Code Geass: Kallen the Loyal
by Geeqad
Summary: The Black Knights have betrayed their leader, Zero, under somewhat false pretences. Lelouch, after being saved by Rolo, pursues his goal of destroying Britannia, whilst unbeknownst to him and his allies, an old friend is coming to join him in his quest (no OC). Rated M to be safe.
1. The Betrayal of the Black Knights

**The Black Knights have betrayed their leader, Zero, under somewhat false pretences. Lelouch, after being saved by Rolo, pursues his goal of destroying Britannia, whilst unbeknownst to him and his allies, an old friend is coming to join him in his quest (no OC).**

"Kallen." Lelouch, under the guise of Zero, spoke suddenly, snapping said ace from her whatever thoughts had currently incapacitated her. "It's good you made it back. I'm sorry it took so long to get you out." He said, a relieved tone in his voice.

"Lelouch, listen." Kallen began. "When I was in prison, I happened to talk to Nunnally. She stood up for me and she saved me."

The doors of the elevator opened, showing a darkened hanger inside the Ikaruga.

"I see." Zero replied.

"Look, I'm not sure what to say at a time like this, but when I lost my brother, I…" Kallen wasn't able to finish her sentence, as the blindingly bright lights of several spotlights landed on the two of them.

"Surrender, Zero!" Todoh shouted from a walkway above them, rifle pointed directly at Zero, with the other members of the Black Knights following suit.

"How dare you try to run a con-game on us!" Nagisa added.

"We know everything about your Geass power!" Ougi yelled, causing Lelouch to jump in shock. He then looked slightly in front of him to see Deithard holding a camera, beginning to run commentary.

"Zero, the renowned hero, died in battle before he could triumph. But his gallant life and daring deeds will continue to live on in myth and legend."

"Is that the script you've written for me, Diethard?" Lelouch asked, seemingly unfazed to this rebellion of the Black Knights against their master.

"Actually, I wanted to film your brilliant campaign and glorious victory over Britannia. But I'm afraid that show's been permanently cancelled."

'What do I do?' Lelouch thought to himself, his mind racing for answers. 'The Knightmares are beyond my reach but Ougi and the others are defenceless! If I could use my Geass secretly…'

"Everybody trusted you, Zero!" Yoshitaka announced.

"Inoue and Yoshida sacrificed their lives for you!" Kento added.

"Wait a minute!" Kallen yelled, placing herself between the others and Zero. "This is all one-sided! Look at how far we've come because of Zero! At least let him answer!"

"You're in the way, Kallen!" Tamaki yelled, seemingly ignoring Kallen's request. "Do you wanna die with Zero? Don't tell me he used his Geass on you too?"

Lowering her head, Kallen began to speak in a hushed tone, so that only Lelouch could hear her. "I need an answer, Lelouch. What do I mean to you? I have to know." She paused before continuing. "If I could stay with you, I would. Please."

Unfortunately for Kallen, Lelouch was too busy trying to figure out an exit strategy to give a straight answer at that moment. Looking just beyond the rebels that were currently holding their aim on him, he noticed his pathetic Prime Minister of a brother, Schneizel el Britannia. 'Schneizel! You made your move and now you're calling check? There's no way out of this for me… it's over…'

"Please answer me, Lelouch!" Kallen demanded, speaking louder this time.

At this point, 'Zero' began to laugh maniacally. "Fools!" He said, raising his hand to his mask, causing Kallen to turn her head, shocked. "You finally figured it out! That I've been using you all!" Removing his mask, Lelouch revealed his face to the Black Knights. "That's right, you're all just pawns in my game."

"Zero, so you really are…" Ougi began.

"Zero!" Tamaki yelled, a look of sadness covering his face.

"…Lelouch, no…" Kallen, with a face of nothing but pure horror strewn across her face, managed to mutter out.

Lelouch turned to Kallen, his arrogant smirk ever present, before continuing. "Kallen, you were my most useful piece, much like a well-played knight. This whole world was the board for the game! And all for my entertainment!"

Kallen turned away from Lelouch, the meaning of his words stinging the more that she thought about them. "I see." She said quietly, head downturned and tears in her eyes. "Goodbye then, Lelouch." She muttered before walking away, out of the line of fire of the Black Knights.

"Get ready!" Todoh commanded, prompting the Black Knights to aim at Lelouch, ready to kill.

"Kallen." Lelouch spoke loud enough only so that she could hear. "You have to live."

Kallen jerked her head up, seemingly understanding the meaning behind his actions. She turned her head towards Lelouch just as Todoh gave the command to fire, and as the Shinkiro fell from the upper level of the hanger to block the shots fired at Lelouch.

"Are you okay, Brother?" Rolo asked from within the Knightmare.

"Rolo?" Lelouch questioned, clearly not expecting this as an outcome since he had actively disowned Rolo less than an hour ago.

"Everyone, open fire! Hit the Shinkiro!" Todoh ordered, causing the Gekkas on the lower level to take aim at said Knightmare.

"Wait!" Kallen yelled, but to no avail.

"Big Brother, I'll protect you!" Rolo announced, activating his Geass.

The next thing that the Black Knights knew was that the Shinkiro had seemingly vanished, as well as Lelouch.

"They're gone!" Ougi proclaimed, shocked. "The Shinkiro!"

"Vanished, just like in Babel Tower…" Kallen muttered.

"Attention all units," Diethard ordered over the radio, "The Shinkiro has been stolen. Set out and capture it!"

Despite these orders, Kallen didn't find herself hurrying to her Guren "SEITEN." Instead, she appeared to be moving at a fast walking pace. Others may be thinking that it would be because she trusted Zero so much that his betrayal destroyed her fortitude. In reality, it was much simpler – she was too busy looking into the inner meaning of the words that Lelouch had said to her before he vanished with the Shinkiro.

"Why did he say that 'I must live'?" Kallen muttered to herself, slowly making her way to the hanger where her Knightmare was stored.

Upon arriving, she was met with the sight of many of her friends and allies scrambling to their assigned Knightmares, many of which were Burais. Seeing this, Kallen felt like she should up her pace a little, before her actions became suspicious. She hurried to her Guren SEITEN and climbed in the cockpit, trying her best to ignore the many conflicting thoughts that clouded her mind. Starting the Knightmare, she quickly launched her way out of the Ikaruga using her new Energy Wings that the Britannian Scientists had used to replace the Float System.

Once outside, Kallen quickly noticed the Shinkiro in the distance, with the chasing Knightmares seemingly falling slowly toward the ocean, despite there not being any obvious damage visible. From a glance, it looked as though the only Knightmares that were being affected were the ones that were within a certain spherical radius of the ship itself.

'Is this a hidden feature?' Kallen thought to herself, rushing after it. However, after she began to get closer, she slowed down a little and decided to keep her distance to tail the Shinkiro instead of immediately attempting to engage in combat with it.

As Kallen loosely tailed the Knightmare, she found herself drawn back to her thoughts that she had attempted to repress back on the Ikaruga. Lelouch had said that she was merely a "well-place knight" but then said that she "must live." Was he lying? He _was_ well known for lying, usually to protect, not damage.

She decided to push these thoughts to the back of her mind again, wanting to hear the truth from him rather than drawing her own conclusions before meeting him.

She drew her attention back to the Shinkiro that appeared to be…almost staggering as it flew away, heading into a forest on the southern side of Kamine Island. Once it landed in the forest, Kallen herself landed the Guren SEITEN a short distance away from it, making sure to not be immediately spotted. As she got closer to the Shinkiro, she could see Lelouch sitting on the shoulder of the machine, speaking in a hushed tone to someone in the cockpit. Getting even closer, but not so close as to give her presence away, she recognised what sounded to be the last breaths of Lelouch's 'brother' Rolo Lamperouge. Seconds later, Lelouch lifted Rolo out of the cockpit and began to dig a grave for the lost soul.

"He saved Lelouch… but how did he die?" Kallen muttered quietly, staying hidden. Glancing at the Shinkiro, there was very little damage done to the Knightmare itself – only minor damage that appeared on the rear side of the machine itself, and even then they were just dents or small bullet holes. But there was no damage near the cockpit itself, showing no obvious signs towards Rolo's unexpected death.

"I know you're there." Lelouch said out of the blue, causing Kallen to jump. "Come out of the bushes already, save yourself from some embarrassment."

Eyes wide, Kallen slowly moved out of the bushes that she had been hiding in, revealing herself to the man she had been sworn to protect. Lelouch clearly didn't expect it to be Kallen to have followed him, as his eyes widened in surprise.

"How did you know I was there?" Kallen asked. She would save the important questions for later.

"It's not exactly surprising when you can hear a very quiet muttering when you'd expect to be the only person around." Lelouch answered, standing in front of the completed grave that he'd built for Rolo. It was simple, just a wooden cross fashioned from some sturdy sticks with the heart locket that Rolo had always kept to himself.

"I suppose that's fair." Kallen responded, unintentionally revealing that she was out of sorts to the person that she'd been forced to betray.

"How did you follow me?" Lelouch asked, "Rolo's Geass should've stopped anyone from following us."

"I tailed you at a distance. I saw that the Knightmares that got too close to you were being incapacitated by the Shinkiro and decided to keep my distance for safety."

"As expected from my queen." Lelouch complimented, causing Kallen to blush. The last thing she'd expected from this encounter was for Lelouch to compliment her.

"On that topic…" Kallen continued. There was no better opportunity than this. "Will you give me an honest answer to the question I posed to you on the Ikaruga? No lying this time… please."

Lelouch stared at her, clearly thinking. After roughly a minute passed, he chose to repond. "Kallen… I can't give you a straight answer just yet, as there is much to be done." Disappointment flooded Kallen's face; she wasn't ever going to get a straight answer, was she.

She began to turn back to her Guren SEITEN, but stopped once Lelouch grabbed her shoulder. "However…" He began, "I can promise you that I will give you a straight answer once I take down that bastard of a father of mine."

"You plan to take down the Emperor of Britannia?" Kallen asked, stunned. "How? Your small army has betrayed you, you only have one Knightmare and your Geass power. What can you hope to do?"

"Ah, but that is where you're wrong, Q-1." Lelouch replied, giving Kallen the name that she had grown to love over the past year or so. "I have both C.C. and you."

This caught Kallen off guard. First she betrays the man she loved, then follows him during his escape attempt, has a casual conversation with him then receives a request from the same man to help her take down the Emperor of Britannia, Charles zi Britannia?! This was ludicrous by any standards.

"And what makes you think I'm just going to help you?" Kallen countered, still slightly suspicious of Lelouch's actions. "Plus, C.C. doesn't have her memories. How is she going to be of any help?"

"That's where you're wrong." Lelouch replied smoothly. "My contract with C.C. has changed slightly. It feels different than it did about an hour ago. I think she's got her memories back, and I wouldn't be surprised if she was on her way to this very island."

Kallen nodded, seeming to understand Lelouch's logic. She'd gotten a very brief tutorial on Geass from C.C. before they'd saved Lelouch.

"As far as you go, my dear…" Lelouch continued, "I wouldn't be alive right now if you didn't have the intention of helping me, now would I?"

Kallen's eyes widened. He'd read her like a book once again. And once again, she had to agree, nodding her head slowly to show this.

"Well then, Kallen." Lelouch began, "Will you join me in taking down Britannia? Will you turn your back on your country and allies to take down the biggest problem in the world?" Lelouch finished, stretching his hand out to her, almost waiting for the inevitable handshake.

Kallen, however, paused. In siding with Lelouch, which her heart was screaming at her to do, she would be forced to turn her back on Japan, the country she'd been fighting for, and her allies and friends.

In the end, she listened to her heart and clasped Lelouch's hand in a tight grip, nodding and smiling to the smartest man in the world.

"Excellent." Lelouch said, clearly happy with the response that Kallen had given. "Now then, we must find our way to the entry way to the World of C."

"The what?" Kallen asked. She hadn't been told about anything like this from C.C., as she assumed that it had something to do with Geass.

"Come. I'll explain on the way." Lelouch answered.

 **It's finally under way! I've had this idea for a fanfic floating around in the back of my head for a while now, but have been struggling to get it started. So happy that it's started!**

 **I'm not exactly sure where I'm gonna take this – whether I'm going to go down the path of the Zero Requiem (which I might prefer) or the path of Lelouch taking the Britannian Empire for himself (which also has potential).**

 **Once we get the next chapter done, I'll make the decision based on what I feel like doing. Either that or I will decide on what people would like as an outcome.**

 **Reviews would be appreciated, as well as what path people would prefer for Lelouch to take.**

 **Looking forward to the next chapter, should be up in about a week or so.**


	2. Taking the Battle to the Emperor

**Kallen, after following after Lelouch, has agreed to join up with him to take down Charles vi Britannia, Emperor of Britannia. This seems to be a huge challenge for just two people, but Kallen knows that if anyone can pull this off, Lelouch can.**

Suzaku continued to stand in the crater caused by the FLEIJA warhead in Tokyo next to the pool of water that had been created from river water trickling down into the crater. He continued to stare into his reflection, struggling to believe what he had become.

He'd stood to change the Britannian system of power from the inside, giving numbers some more power in the hierarchical system. He, himself, had become a shining beacon of hope for Elevens and Honorary Britannians to move up the system themselves to reach a better standard of living. The general happiness of the people in Area Eleven was increasing as people became more hopeful for the future.

And Suzaku had just detonated a weapon that would not only have killed hundreds of thousands of people, Elevens and Britannians alike, he also was the cause for the sudden drop in motivation in the area. The shining ray of hope for the Numbers had just killed many of his own people using Britannian technology.

He had a lot to answer for.

Continuing to stare at his reflection, he noticed how dark his eyes looked. They'd looked that way since Zero… since Lelouch killed Euphie, but it seemed more… prominent now. Like they'd become even darker.

Raising his head, he looked up to the warship that Zero used as his hub or sorts, the Ikaruga. Right now, Schneizel was currently aboard the ship making negotiations with the Black Knights since Zero was seemingly out of sorts once the FLEIJA went off.

Suzaku was unfortunately unable to do anything at the moment, since he, too, was also 'out of sorts.' He could only hope that Schneizel and Cornelia would be able to negotiate the Black Knight's surrender.

Just like clockwork, however, a knightmare, what appeared to be Zero's, flew out of the airship after a sudden glow of red light enveloped part of the airship itself.

Upon seeing this, Suzaku began to laugh uncontrollably. His true enemy, Lelouch, was right in front of him. He knew that Lloyd had another Lancelot available for him if he needed it, and with his current version of the Lancelot being reduced to nothing but the main body and a single arm, he would need it to take down the leader of the Black Knights.

Climbing into the remains of his knightmare, he activated the float system and began heading up to the Avalon, getting ready to pursue his enemy.

Starting up the Guren SEITEN, Kallen flew the Knightmare to a height where it was just hovering above the forest as she waited for Lelouch to join her. She was overjoyed that she'd managed to join Lelouch again, that she'd managed to become trusted in his eyes after the betrayal that she'd been forced into.

And whilst Kallen still had her questions, not to mention a little bit of doubt as to whether Lelouch was able to pull of this task. However, she was determined to push both of these things that would potentially affect her new mission to the back of her mind. She trusted Lelouch, and he'd promised her answers; that was all that mattered right now.

As the Shinkiro joined the Guren SEITEN in hovering above the forest, Kallen's radio sprung to life with Lelouch's voice. "Turn off your IFF signal, otherwise people may end up following us."

"Good thinking. I don't think the others will be as forgiving as I was." Kallen replied jokingly, receiving a small chuckle in response. She did as she was told, before following Lelouch as he headed toward an area on the coast of Kamine Island, an area that, if Kallen remembered correctly from when she was last here, when she'd found out that Lelouch was Zero, housed the temple like area where Zero's identity was revealed.

After a very short period of flying, they touched down roughly a mile away from their destination. Exiting her Knightmare, she stood next to the Shinkiro as Lelouch joined her.

"Why have we only landed here? Wouldn't it be smarter to get closer to the temple?" Kallen asked, confused.

"A fair point, but it's very likely that the Emperor will have put defences in place to make sure no one stops his plans." Lelouch explained, "Most likely the Knight of One, at least. It's also extremely likely that Suzaku will be on his way here too."

"Not to mention C.C.." Kallen added. "Any other reason why we're here?"

"A simple one: I'm going to 'convince' some Britannian soldiers at a nearby base to join my cause."

Kallen laughed, "You've always been good at 'convincing' others to join your cause." Kallen paused, a huge question she had on her mind making its presence known to her. "Lelouch…" she began, "I know you've told me that I followed you out of my own free will, but I must know: have you ever used your Geass on me?"

Lelouch's face dropped slightly, not expecting this question to be posed to him. Or, at least, not yet.

"I'll be truthful with you, Kallen." Lelouch answered. "I have used my Geass on you."

Kallen's face dropped. Lelouch just admitted that he'd used her at some point, causing her to feel betrayed by the man she'd just regained trust in.

"However, I did not use it on you in the way that you're currently thinking that I did." Lelouch continued, with Kallen waiting for his clarification. "Do you remember the day where I said not to mention Shinjuku?" Kallen nodded. "I had used my Geass on you moments before to get some answers out of you. I have never, in any way, used my Geass to make you a loyal soldier."

Lelouch's answer seemed to put Kallen's mind at ease, but she still had questions. "What kind of answers did you get out of me?"

"Whether you were piloting the Glasgow during the Shinjuku incident, why you were part of a terrorist group and your lineage." Lelouch listed lazily. "Nothing important."

"I see…" Kallen muttered in response. "I better hope you're not lying to me, Lelouch."

"At this point, I wouldn't have any reason to lie to you." Lelouch replied, the honesty in his voice coming through more than Kallen had ever heard in all of their time together. "Anyway, let's go create some Britannian rebels.

Charles zi Britannia had just touched down on Kamine Island, followed by his most trusted knight, Bismark, the Knight of One. Heading towards the gateway that would lead to the World of C, he knew that all the remaining pieces of the puzzle towards the creation of the Ragnarok Connection were falling into place.

He had (forcefully) acquired his lying, promise-breaking brother's code.

He was certain, through his connection with the World of C through his code that Anya Alstreim, a mere shell for Marianne vi Britannia, was on her way towards this island too, with C.C. in tow.

And the biggest headache he'd ever experienced, being Lelouch vi Britannia, his son with his pathetic little rebellion against the empire with those terrorists, was reported dead.

Very little else could get in his way.

"Your majesty!"

Such an example just made itself present.

"Sir Kururugi, I'm very busy at the moment. I'll speak to you later."

"With all due respect, your highness, but this can't wait."

Sighing, Charles turned to face the Knight of Six.

"You'd better have a good reason for forcing me to stop, Kururugi."

"Sir." Suzaku responded immediately. "I'm certain that Lelouch and another rebel are here on this island, most likely to attempt to assassinate you."

The emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia had to raise his eyebrows at this statement. "Sir Kururugi." He began, "Just by saying that, you are accusing several different people at once of very deplorable things, such as mutiny."

Suzaku's eyes widened, surprised to hear this from the Emperor himself. "Sir, why would I have any reason to lie about something as serious as this?"

"I suppose that's true." Charles zi Britannia replied. "However, we have no way of determining how truthful you are."

"Majesty." Bismark spoke up, "One way that we may know would be to see how he acts in combat. Might I suggest that he duel against me?"

"A good suggestion, Bismark. I shall leave you to duel with him while I sort the final stages of the Ragnarok Connection in the World of C."

"Of course, your Majesty." Bismark replied, drawing his sword. Seeing this, Suzaku's Geass command placed upon him by Lelouch to 'Live' ordered him to draw his own sword. Getting ready for combat, Suzaku slowed his breathing and prepared to charge.

Silence fell between the two, each waiting for the other to make an opening. Neither seemed to want to move, as the first blow would likely determine the winner within seconds.

However, neither would have to take the first shot.

An explosion blew up between the two duellists, causing Suzaku to fly backward, smacking his head off of some collapsed ruins, knocking him out, while Bismark merely was forced to cover his face as a reaction to the explosion.

"What?!" Bismark yelled, surprised to be interrupted in such a manor.

Suddenly, several Britannian Knightmares, such as Glasgows and Vincents, rapidly sped up to the entrance of the ruins, their weapons brandished.

"Glory to his majesty!" The pilots yelled in sync, firing their guns at the doorway to the World of C.

Seeing this, Bismark dashed forward, using his behemoth sword to damage the legs of the Knightmares, rendering them useless.

"I must stop the rebels!" Bismark yelled, climbing into his Knightmare.

C.C. was currently sitting behind Anya Alstreim, currently under the control of Marianne vi Britannia, inside the Mordred currently travelling toward Kamine Island.

She'd been lucky that Anya was nearby when Lelouch had left with his brother, Rolo. Having lost herself in her memories after Charles zi Britannia's last attempt at enacting his plan with the Ragnarok Connection, she had reverted back to her mentality from before she'd even met the nun who gave her the code that now burdened C.C..

Fortunately, Marianne's Geass that she'd placed upon Anya upon her death was now controlling Anya herself, with Marianne in the pilot's seat while Anya was just a passenger, along for the ride, and because of Marianne's intervention, she was able to get C.C. back to being herself.

As they closed in on their destination, Anya's head popped up slightly, as if surprised to see something that she wasn't anticipating.

"Bismark's flying above the island..." She muttered, with C.C. looking over her shoulder to see for herself.

"He could get in our way…" C.C. advised.

"I have a plan." Anya replied, launching the Mordred towards Bismark.

Once she was within range, she began to attack him. "Bismark!" She shouted over the speaker as she fired a shot from the Mordred's cannons, "How dare you betray his Majesty?!"

"What are you suggesting?!" Bismark retorted, slicing part of the Mordred's float system, causing it to descend slowly, effectively disabling it. "I would never betray his Highness!"

"I see." Anya replied, attempting to control her descent, "Then how are we going to control the rebels?"

"I should be able to handle them myself, but your assistance would be much appreciated."

"I'd join you, but my float system has been damaged beyond repair."

"I see." Bismark grimaced, realising that he was the cause of losing such a potentially useful ally against these rebels. "Go ahead and land on the island, I'll take care of them myself."

"Very clever, Marianne." C.C. said, amused. "You attacked him first to prove that you're not a rebel."

"Exactly!" Marianne said happily, winking. "Now let's hurry up and get into the World of C."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Kallen asked Lelouch as they stood at the massive door like structure in the ruins, having managed to get past Bismark with the help of the surprising rebellion from the Britannians on the local air base.

"Positive. It would be dangerous for someone with such little exposure to Geass, such as yourself, to enter the focal point of such a power." Lelouch replied, a touch of concern hidden in his voice.

"Alright. So I just have to place these around the door and detonate, right?"

"Yes, that will trap him in there with me." Lelouch began, "There will be no easy way for anyone without a code, or without the help of someone with a code, to get in or out. And he won't want to leave whilst his biggest enemy is standing in the same location as the base of his plans."

"Sound logic as always." Kallen smiled, lifting the bag of explosives onto her shoulder.

Just as Lelouch turned to enter the mysterious world beyond the door, Kallen called out, "Lelouch!" He turned to meet her gaze, wondering what she wanted. "…good luck."

Upon hearing this, Lelouch smiled – an honest, true smile – before heading through the doors. Once they closed, Kallen got to work.

Suzaku's head was aching from the sudden impact of the explosion. He slowly opened his eyes, and once focused he saw the face of Anya Alstreim, a fellow Knight of the Round, crouched down in front of him with a marker in hand.

"Anya?" He struggled to mutter.

"Damn." She replied, "You woke up too fast."

"Probably for the best." C.C. made herself known to Suzaku, "I can see something that may cause a few headaches for all of us."

Both Anya and Suzaku looked in the direction that C.C. was referring to, and saw Kallen Kozuki, ace of the Black Knights and Captain of the Zero Squad, planting explosives onto the massive door within the ruins.

Just as she placed the last one and took cover, Suzaku spoke for the others: "Oh, fuck."

A massive explosion rocked the area around the ruins, debris falling from the ceiling creating a horrid mess around what was left of the door.

Suzaku, Anya and C.C. ran forward to meet Kallen, but Suzaku was first to act, grabbing Kallen by the collar and lifting her up. "Why?!" He yelled, furious. "Why would you do that?! His Majesty is in there!"

"And so is Lelouch." Kallen replied, disdain smeared across her face. "I only did it on his orders."

"Lelouch wanted this?" Suzaku muttered, disbelief clouding his judgement. 'Had Lelouch planned a suicide mission?'

"I'll go on ahead." Anya muttered before placing her hand on the remains of the door, then promptly passing out.

"Anya!" Suzaku yelled, dropping Kallen and managing to catch his friend before her head hit the ground. "What's happened to her?" Suzaku asked C.C., worried.

"Anya is fine, Marriane's 'soul' has just entered the World of C."

"Marianne?" Kallen asked.

"Lelouch's mother." Suzaku clarified. "But she'd dead."

"Not entirely. The long and short of it is that she used her Geass to live on inside of Anya."

Silence fell between the trio, as both Suzaku and Kallen were currently digesting this information that C.C. had given them.

"And what about you?" Kallen finally spoke up. "Are you going to join her in there?"

C.C. smiled gently, "Of course. I have an agreement with Lelouch, after all."

As C.C. stood up, Kallen and Suzaku followed suit, "Take me with you." They managed to say in sync before glancing at each other in surprise.

C.C. burst out laughing after this. Once the laughter died down, she agreed to do as they wanted.

"I see you've all come to join me." Lelouch said, turning his head slightly to see C.C., Kallen and Suzaku all standing behind him in the World of C.

"You knew this would happen?" Suzaku asked.

"I've known you all for at least 2 years, and you expect me to not know how you will act?" Lelouch replied nonchalantly.

"More interlopers?" Charles zi Britannia asked. "Bah, it means nothing. Nothing can stop the Ragnarok Connection now!"

"What is this plan of yours?" Kallen asked.

"Ignorant Eleven." The emperor replied, causing Kallen's face to darken with slight anger. "The Ragnarok Connection is the perfect plan that my treacherous brother and I came up with. It will change the future… by preserving the past."

"Preserving the past?" Suzaku piped up, "What does that even mean, your highness?"

"The past has been better for everyone." Marianne answered, "By preserving the past, we'd also be making the present and the future more like the past."

"So you'd forsake the entire world just to establish this little plan of yours?" Lelouch countered, still shocked that his own mother, the woman he'd been trying so desperately to avenge, was on the side of his father, his mortal enemy. "You'd take away people's futures just to relive the 'good old days'?"

"Everything we've done is for the sake of everyone." Marianne spoke softly, with Charles nodding in agreement. "We sacrificed so much for the happiness of you and Nunnally, Lelouch."

"So what?!" Lelouch snapped, swinging his arm in anger. "Regardless of that, it was still a waste! Not only is this a stupid idea, but Nunnally is dead!"

"That was… regrettable." Charles replied, avoiding Lelouch's eyes. "However, once the Ragnarok Connection is completed, you may still be able to interact with her… just as I was once able to speak with Clovis in this very room."

Lelouch's face dropped. He could speak with Nunnally? His most precious little sister? His reason for living? If he allowed his enemy to enact their plan, he would still have his sister…

"That's absurd!" Kallen shouted, snapping Lelouch away from his thoughts. "You mean to say that I'd be able to talk with my brother again? That's impossible, he's dead!"

"She's right." Suzaku added, "My father was killed by my hand. There's no way we could speak together again."

"It's an incredibly selfish plan." C.C. spoke up for the first time in this encounter.

"Exactly." Lelouch added. "And I refuse to let this plan go through!"

"Well, what can you do, Lelouch?" Charles countered, "There's no one you can use your Geass on in here. You're done. Checkmate."

"Not quite!" Lelouch yelled, taking his contact out, revealing that his Geass had spread from his left eye to both of his eyes. "There's one other 'person' here, isn't there?!"

Charles narrowed his eyes, unsure as to what Lelouch meant. Once Lelouch looked upwards, he understood completely.

"God!" Lelouch yelled, with the collective unconsciousness known as 'god' moaning in response. "I command you… stop my father's plan!"

The spectators stood there, waiting for a reaction, when suddenly the 'thought elevator' that had been there since Kallen, Suzaku and C.C. entered the World of C began to disintegrate. At the same time, Marianne vi Britannia and Charles zi Britannia also began to follow suit.

"Lelouch, no!" Marianne cried out in pain, her legs fading into nothing.

"Lelouch!" The emperor of Britannia reached forward, grabbing Lelouch by the neck.

"Oh no!" Kallen cried out, about to move forward to help Lelouch before he raised his hand to stop her.

"Your time is long since past, old man." Lelouch taunted, "Now… Away with you!"

At his command, both Marianne and Charles flew backwards, into the remains of the thought elevator. Soon, only Lelouch, Suzaku, Kallen and C.C. were the only ones left in the World of C.

"What now?" Kallen asked.

"Let's get out of here." Lelouch said, with the others following him.

Once outside of the World of C, Suzaku drew his sword and point it towards Lelouch. "Lelouch… I can't let you leave."

"Why?" Kallen asked, "He just defeated the single greatest threat in the world! Surely that should be something to be celebrated?"

"I suppose…" Suzaku muttered, "But he killed Euphie!"

"What of it?" Lelouch replied, not even fazed.

" _What of it?_ " Suzaku repeated. "How _dare_ you?"

Just as Suzaku began to thrust his sword forward, C.C. dashed in front of Lelouch, using Suzaku's forward momentum to push him aside and send him clattering on the ground.

"Don't get cocky, boy." C.C. glared down on Suzaku, "You're either with us, or against us."

Kallen just stood on in surprise, as she had not expected C.C. to jump in front of Lelouch as she did. She also inwardly swore at herself for being too slow to do that herself.

"Suzaku." Lelouch spoke softly. "If you choose to be my enemy, then I will not hold any prejudice against you. However, should you choose to be my ally, I will welcome you with open arms."

Walking away and beckoning Kallen and C.C. to follow, he finished with "The choice is yours, my old friend."

Once out of the cave, Kallen had questions that she wanted answered.

"Lelouch, when will you give me my answers? And where are we going to go now?"

Lelouch turned to face her, looking straight into her eyes as he said "You'll get your answers after we accomplish the next task, my dearest Q-1. And for now…" He continued, "Wouldn't it seem a little silly for the next emperor to be late to his own crowning ceremony?"

 **Fun fact – this was finished 4 days ago.**

 **Not so fun fact – I had no internet for 4 days.**

 **So I'm sorry for this being late, but it was entirely out of my control. Hopefully this will live up to expectations, especially with it being over twice as long as the first chapter. I hope you've all enjoyed it.**

 **And if you can't tell, due to the overwhelming number of reviews that I got, we'll be taking the "Ruler of Britannia" path! Hope you're all looking forward to that!**

 **As for the next chapter, to be safe, I'll say that it'll be out within 2 weeks – that'll cover any unexpected delays that may occur.**

 **Reviews would be very much appreciated!**


	3. Britannia's New Emperor

**I have returned!**

 **Apologies to those who were desperately wanting the next chapter, but never received. Many thanks to the people who PM'd me with encouraging messages (Anuraj, Star's Keyblade4114, patrickthenobleman, Titanfire999 and Spiral-Voltron-Zero0Q1) and many more thanks to those who stuck with this despite the massive delays. It's very encouraging to continue working on this every time I get an email saying that someone has left a review on this little project of mine, so thank you everyone.**

 **With all that said, I hope I can meet your expectations for this chapter. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing to do with Code Geass. Unless you want to count my Lelouch statue. In which case, kinda.**

 _Pendragon, capital city of the Holy Britannian Empire. (18:00)_

The throne room of the emperor of Britannia normally was a very large, spacious room, one befitting of an emperor of such a large domain. A royal carpet donned the floor on top of a regal marble, and the banners of the Britannian empire hung from the ceiling, barely moving, as if frozen in the air. The throne itself was made from the finest of fabric, wood, and decorated fabulously with ribbons of gold across the back and armrests of the magnificent cathedra.

Such a large room was usually only used by the emperor of Britannia, Charles zi Britannia, and anyone whom he had to converse with. However, in this case, the room was packed – the many children of the emperor along with several nobles filled the vast room, with several guards lining the halls.

"Why were we all summoned here so suddenly?" the First Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire, Guinevere de Britannia scowled, evidently having not been informed of the sudden congregation of royals and nobles.

"We were told that his majesty had returned, and that we were supposed to meet him here." Odysseus eu Britannia, First Prince of the Holy Britannian Empire, stated calmly, in an attempt to calm his half-sister's sour mood. "Although it is strange that we're only hearing from his majesty just now, a whole month after his disappearance."

"Does it matter?" Carine ne Britannia asked, "His majesty is back now! We will be able to reunite with Cornelia and Schneizel with Father at the head of the empire!"

"I wonder about that…" Odysseus murmured to himself.

"Odysseus?" Guinevere called out? "What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking… both Schneizel and Cornelia have been mysteriously absent for the past month as well." The Mediocre Prince explained, "And during that time, we've also had no reports from our research facilities in Cambodia."

"What are you saying?" Carine chimed in, "Are you implying that both Schneizel and Cornelia have abandoned the empire?"

"I'm simply saying that this sudden series of events is suspicious, that's all." Odysseus clarified, "I'll be sure to bring this up with his majesty, however."

"Announcing the arrival of his majesty, the emperor!" A guard exclaimed as a pair of white, porcelain doors flew open on the far right of the throne.

Around the world, people were watching this event as it was being filmed, and they watched in shock as a young man stepped out onto the marble floor, dressed in what appeared to be the clothing of a Britannian schoolboy. He walked slowly, elegantly, and allowed those he knew to be watching to react in the ways that he was certain that they would.

As he crossed over to the throne, he could hear the cries of shock from his half-siblings and the murmurings of nobles questioning what was going on.

As he reached the throne, he could practically imagine what was going through the minds of each and every member of the traitorous Black Knights, and how each would react. Tamaki, of course, would be dumbfounded, whereas Tohdoh would likely only frown harder than he already did by default.

Sitting down onto the magnificent throne, he could only imagine the faces of Schneizel and Cornelia. Cornelia would be only slightly shocked, most likely at the fact that he was alive after what occurred on the Ikaruga, whereas Schneizel would likely have anticipated this to occur, and would likely be brandishing that devilish smile he was known for.

Crossing his legs, he thought of his friends at Ashford, Rivalz, Milly and Nina – Rivalz would certainly be surprised, having no clue about his friend's lineage. Milly would certainly be surprised, and he didn't know how Nina would react. Would she be surprised? Would she be angry? He had no clue.

After getting comfortable, he addressed his half-siblings and the nobles that all had their gazes fixated on him, and him alone, "Good afternoon everyone, I am Lelouch vi Britannia, 11th Prince of Britannia and 1st son of the late consort Lady Marianne vi Britannia."

"Lelouch!" Odysseus spoke, his voice having a joyful tone to it to match the consistent tone of surprise that currently adorned his face, "What a joy to see you return to us! We had all thought that you died during the invasion of Area 11. Come now, that's our father's throne, the joke is over now…"

"Charles zi Britannia, 98th emperor to the Holy Britannian Empire is dead, and I killed him." Lelouch interrupted, and gave those in the hall time to soak in what he had just claimed to have done before continuing, "That makes me the next emperor according to the succession laws, doesn't it?"

"Guards!" Guinevere shouted, "Seize him! He's charged with killing our glorious emperor!"

The guards stationed around the hall immediately charged in to arrest Lelouch, and they would have succeeded if not for a sudden blur of red that appeared to force them back, completely disarming them.

"Allow me to introduce my personal knight… this is Kallen Kozuki, who I am granting the title of Knight of Zero!" Lelouch proclaimed proudly as Kallen stood tall, dressed in her knightmare uniform, proudly showing off her impressive figure, her hair in its usual 'outgoing' state, yet without her headband that she was always seen with when accompanying the Black Knights.

"Lelouch, please." Odysseus stepped forward directly in front Lelouch, still on the same level as all of the other royals and nobles, "This has gone much too far now. Please, stop this farce!"

"So, you still do not recognise me as emperor…" Lelouch said, standing up and removing his violet coloured contacts to reveal the symbol of Geass adorning each eye. "Very well then, Lelouch vi Britannia commands you: acknowledge me as your emperor!"

"Odysseus began murmuring something before the effects of Lelouch's Geass took place, causing Odysseus, and everyone else in the room other than Kallen and the mysterious green haired witch standing at the side of the room, to suddenly salute Lelouch, proclaiming "All hail Lelouch!" repeatedly.

 _Cambodia, undisclosed location (05:10)_

Schneizel el Britannia, Cornelia li Britannia and Kanon Maldini had congregated around the television, which was currently streaming the footage of Lelouch's takeover of the Holy Britannian Empire. Cornelia and Kanon's faces were slightly aghast, what with the sudden amount of power that Lelouch had just showcased by commanding everyone in the throne room to see him as the next emperor of Britannia. Schneizel, on the other hand, had that devilish grin that Lelouch knew he would have adorned his face with.

"My Lord," Kanon eventually spoke up, "With Lelouch taking this path, what does this mean for us?"

Schniezel's face dropped slightly before he explained, "Since he is now in control of the entire empire, I can see him taking one of two paths: either he attempts to turn Britannia on its head and change how the empire operates, or he will attempt to take over the world…" Schneizel took a short breath before continuing, "Regardless of the path that he takes, I'm sure he will brand all of us as enemies against the empire."

"If that's the case, then wouldn't it be rather hard for us to retaliate?" Cornelia questioned, "Most of the Areas where we can acquire various forms of equipment are now under his control. If what you say is true, then we will not be able to do anything in those Areas."

"True, sister," Schneizel commented, "But remember, it depends on the way that Lelouch decides to act from now on. Regardless of his path, I'm certain that there will be many people, be they Britannian or other, who would like to see him removed from the throne." He chuckled to himself before adding, "Well, we've also got our little trump card that we can use, if need be."

"But what would we be aiming to do against an entire empire? We can only move in the shadows now." Kanon inquired.

"Yes, and without that scientist… what was his name…" The Witch of Britannia paused, racking her brain for his name, "Ah, Earl Asplund and his assistant. Without them, producing 7th generation nightmares and beyond is going to be a hassle."

"I don't think we'll need the help of that traitor." Schneizel responded, accidently showing his distaste for the flamboyant genius, "After all… we always have Damocles."

Kanon and Cornelia were actively taken aback by this statement. "But my Lord," Kanon exclaimed, "We don't have anywhere near the level of resources to invest in that!"

"And even if we did, it would be rather hard to hide it from the new emperor of nearly half the world." Cornelia finished.

Schneizel raised his hands in order to get them to stop, sighing as he did so, "I'm merely saying we shouldn't rule it out. But for now, we should try and get our hands on people who I'm sure are directly against Lelouch… the Knights of the Round, for example."

"Sir Kururugi is still missing, my Lord." Kanon explained, "Anya is here with us, but Gino and many of the other Knights of the Round, including the Knight of One, have all mysteriously vanished."

"It's likely that they're all thinking the same thing for now…" The White Prince said to himself, his mind clearly thinking of several different strategies to think through to combat Lelouch. "Cornelia, we're most likely going to need to practice our negotiation skills – we're going to want as many allies as possible to combat Lelouch."

"In that case, it might be an idea to contact the Black Knights." The Goddess of Victory raised, "They've already betrayed Lelouch once, I highly doubt that they'll go running to his side now."

"Good point," The Cold Blooded Strategist responded, "But for now, we should just watch, try to see what Lelouch plans on doing…"

 _Area 11 (Japan), Ikaruga (07:20)_

"Dammit!" Kaname Ohgi exclaimed loudly, hand slamming down onto the surface in front of him, his face scrunched up in frustration and anger. Villetta Nu was beside him, herself wearing a particularly bleak expression. "Kallen, why would you follow Lelouch? Why would you become his Knight?" Ohgi exclaimed, clearly unable to see Kallen's line of thinking.

Kyoshiro Tohdoh, wearing his Black Knights' uniform, sat not far away from Ohgi, his face seeming to indicate that he was lost in thought. ' _Lelouch… I kept the fact that you were a prince a secret many years ago… and now, you've decided to take over Britannia after we betrayed you?'_ His frown deepened, _'Did you plan this? Did you actually succeed in killing the previous emperor? What are you planning now?'_

Nagisa Chiba, last surviving member of the Four Holy Swords, sitting next to the Man of Miracles, could clearly see that he was deep in thought, and figured that he wouldn't want to be disturbed, and left herself to her own thoughts, as almost every other member of the Black Knights was doing.

"How the hell did Lelouch even become Emperor? How was he not taken into custody the moment he stepped into Pendragon?" Tamaki questioned loudly, causing some of the Black Knights to send him a few glares.

"Enough, everyone." Li Xingke, newly appointed CEO of the Black Knights, spoke up. "This is all very confusing, but we're not going to get any answers by standing around and shouting."

"He's right." Chiba spoke up, "Just because our previous leader has mysteriously become the emperor of Britannia, doesn't mean that this is the end of the world."

"Exactly." Tohdoh finally opened his eyes and spoke up, "For now, we should watch his actions, and make our decisions on how to act based on them."

"Agreed. Now everyone, you have your duties to attend to, so go and do them." Xingke finished, as the room slowly cleared, leaving everyone to their duties. However, Tohdoh, Ohgi and Xingke remained in the room, each wearing an equally boorish expression.

Sighing, Xingke made eye contact with the two men who hadn't moved from their spots. "I assume you two would like to talk about what has just happened?"

"Is it that obvious?" Ohgi said sarcastically.

Chuckling, Tohdoh spoke up, "Lelouch, from what I can tell, could either be a boon or a bane to us, given the circumstances."

"And how do you see that?" Xingke inquired.

"Surely the two of you know how much Zero… no, Lelouch hates Britannia from the time that you've spent with him?" Tohdoh asked, causing the two of them to nod in response, "I can confirm that he has had this hatred since he was a child, over 8 years ago. I'm inclined to believe that he may be attempting to destroy the current Britannia from within with his Geass power."

"Now wait a minute," Ohgi piped up, "It's painfully obvious that he hates Britannia, but if that's the case, why has he decided to sit on the throne now? It should be obvious that he's planning something, but as to what… it's unclear."

"I agree," Xingke added, "He _is_ planning something, but whether it will help us or hinder remains to be seen."

"That's where I think that Lelouch could end up becoming a bane to us. If, theoretically, the death of his sister, Nunally, unhinged him to an extent, and he suddenly decided to take over the world… that would be a much more threatening concept."

"The figurehead viceroy was his sister?" Xingke exclaimed.

"Now that you mention it, Zero… or rather, Lelouch sounded like he'd gone mad as he ordered us to find Nunally after the FLEIJA exploded."

"Exactly." Tohdoh said. "It's still too soon to say anything for sure, but this is something to keep in mind."

Xingke merely nodded before leaving the room, with Tohdoh and Ohgi following shortly afterwards.

 _Pendragon, capital city of the Holy Britannian Empire (20:30)_

Lelouch, now garbed in clothing more fitting of an emperor than the school clothes that he'd worn earlier, let out a large sigh, having finished his business for the day. He sat in the now nearly empty throne room, with C.C. on his left, on a smaller throne of her own, still wearing her crop-top and shorts, and Kallen on his right, previously standing to attention but now in a much more comfortable standing position, dressed in clothing that suits a Knight of her position.

"I don't see why I had to be here, this was your business." C.C. complained, "I could've been having a nap instead, but I had to sit here all evening."

"What is a warlock without his witch?" Lelouch commented, getting a smirk out of the aloof girl.

"Now that all of that is over…" Kallen started, moving in front of Lelouch and donning her usual demeanor, "I have some questions, Lelouch."

Seemingly taken aback, Lelouch initially wore a shocked face before switching it for his usual calm and calculating face. "Alright, ask away."

"First, what are you planning on doing now that you're the 99th emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire?" Kallen started off with a hard question, as she knew he was likely to avoid hard questions the longer this conversation lasted.

"An excellent question," Lelouch proclaimed, standing, "I aim to rid the world of war, and I plan on using Britannia to do so. But not as it currently is, with all the corruption and control over every country by using the Area system, but once Britannia is the form that I want it to be, then we will be in perfect shape to cure the world of war!"

Both Kallen and C.C. were surprised by his sudden liveliness, causing them both to laugh in surprise. "Boy, you've got some ambition, I'll give you that." The Witch chimed in.

"Alright then…" Kallen seemed satisfied with that answer, on top of her being glad that Lelouch wasn't in the same state that he was in before the Black Knights betrayed him. "Now, I just have one more question."

"Surely 'some' implies more than 'two.'" Lelouch commented, snide look adorning his face.

"Very funny," Kallen glared slightly before continuing, "I've asked this before but you never gave me a solid answer: what do I mean to you, Lelouch?"

Lelouch's eyes widened at this (much to the delight of C.C., she was going to love teasing him about this later), and he was initially at a loss for words. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke in a hushed tone, "You are one of my most trusted confidants, someone who I feel like I can trust with secrets many would consider horrifying…" He paused, "You are also someone who, regardless of the situation, I feel like I can trust with my life, and I'm almost always certain you will have my back."

Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Kallen's mouth grew into a very small smile. "Well, since my business is complete for now, I will take my leave. Call me if you need anything, _your majesty._ "

Once Kallen left the throne room, however, her smile turned into a small frown. _'He's shown that he trusts me, but… Lelouch… what do I_ _ **really**_ _mean to you?'_

Lelouch, meanwhile, was being teased by C.C., "So if she means all that to you, what do I mean to you?"

Scoffing, a noticeable tinge of red touching his cheeks, Lelouch answered "You're fully aware of what you mean to me, witch."

Smiling, C.C. began to chuckle.

"Anyway," Lelouch began, "I'd like to ask something, C.C."

"Yes?"

"What happened to my father's Code?"

C.C. raised her eyebrows at this, showing that she definitely didn't expect Lelouch to ask this. "I'm not sure… it could have just faded away into nothing."

"I'm not so sure…" Lelouch stated, "Remember how he grabbed me by the neck in C's World as he was dying?"

"That I do. You tried to look cool."

"Shut up. It's just that the hand that he grabbed me with was the same hand where the mark of his Code was…"

"…" C.C. said nothing, unsure of what to say.

"What I'm trying to say is… do I have my father's code or not?" Lelouch asked, a tone of begging in his voice.

"…since you still have your Geass, it's impossible to tell for now." C.C. explained, "If you were to die, however, we'd know then."

"I'm not going to take that risk." Lelouch stated in a hushed, "It would leave your wish… your _true_ wish unfulfilled, and Kallen would be saddened…"

C.C.'s heart fluttered slightly at this proclamation, and also felt a tang of jealousy for Lelouch's affections towards the red head. But she decided that he'd done a lot today, she could save the teasing for a later date.

"If that's all then, _your highness,_ " C.C. mocked in the same tone Kallen had used earlier, "Then it's about time for you to get some rest if this plan of yours is going to go anywhere."

The former Knight of Seven leaned his back against the cool stone walls of the cave on Kamine Island, his head raised towards the ceiling. He gazed at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, mere meters above him, wondering if he could find the answers he searched for hidden in the rock.

"Lelouch…" He muttered quietly, his voice sounding disinterested.

 **It's done! I'm actually kinda proud of this chapter – a lot happened and yet a fair chunk of it was fairly detailed.**

 **For those who are curious, I'm going to try to include characters and whatnot from Akito the Exiled, but probably not from other forms of CG media – gonna be generally sticking to the stuff that was in the 2 seasons.**

 **Hopefully the next chapter doesn't take another year to produce!**

 **And remember kiddies – University's fun and all, but don't get any resits, they're soul crushing.**


	4. Public Reaction

***gasp* I live!**

 **This chapter is SUPER late, I'm really sorry about that. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, kinda wanted to elaborate on some of the reactions of people around the world (especially the EU).**

 **Without further ado, on with the show! Er, chapter. You know what I mean.**

 **Disclaimer: I wish I owned Code Geass, then I wouldn't be in debt.**

* * *

 _Capital City Pendragon, Britannian Homeland_

"Your highness, if I could just get a little bit of time to analyse that power of yours…" Lloyd Asplund, genius though he was, he was beginning to get on Lelouch's nerves. His assistant, Cécile Croomy, could tell this was the case.

"Lloyd!" She exclaimed loudly, as if hoping to stop the Earl of Pudding's desperate want to learn about the supernatural powers of Geass.

"Hm? Did I do something wrong?"

"Do you want a full list?" Cécile's face went from being mildly angry to a cold smile, eyes shadowed over by her hair, as if trying to hide the danger that was already on display for those present to witness.

"That's enough, you two." Lelouch finally spoke up, sighing. "Lloyd, I have a couple of jobs for you to do, both of which would be impossible if you delved into the secrets behind this power, so I will politely ask you to stop your quest for knowledge _now._ " He finished, displeasure about the topic shining through in his voice.

Both Kallen and Cécile froze up at this sudden tone change from the 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, whilst C.C. and Lloyd seemed to suddenly wore expressions of amusement.

"What His Majesty means, Lloyd," a new voice suddenly spoke as he entered the grand hall proudly, each step clearly showing his loyalty to Lelouch vi Britannia, "is that if you go any further down that road, you'll most certainly die."

Lloyd, clearly unnerved a little by this statement, replied "Y-you mean in the traditional sense?" Evidently, he was still attempting to keep his usual outward appearance the same despite his actual reaction to the statement that he had faced.

"Ridiculous…" The man spoke as he kneeled before the former Black Prince as he began his report, "Jeremiah Gottwald, Knight of Orange, has returned from his mission to vanquish Earl Fayer."

"Well done," Lelouch spoke calmly, proud of how loyal Jeremiah was to him. Whether it was the residual loyalty to the vi Britannia name or loyalty to Lelouch's now deceased mother, that remained to be seen. "Still, I'm not very popular, am I?"

"People tend not to appreciate it when you take away their possessions or their power." C.C. spoke up from her (slightly smaller) throne on Lelouch's left, her voice still the usual monotone.

"Seems as though they'll need to properly understand that you're the current emperor of Britannia." Kallen, dressed in robes befitting of her station, golden streaks of fabric patterning over her cloak, her hair in its usual confident position unlike the meek hairstyle that she used when going to Ashford Academy.

"Indeed," Lelouch said calmly, his face clearly showing that he was thinking of something, calculating rapidly. C.C. glanced over, smirking – he was cute when he was thinking like this. "For now, though, we'll remain on the defensive. If they attempt to remove me from the throne, however," He chuckled sinisterly, "That's where you'll come in, Kallen."

"Yes, My Lord." Kallen answered, inwardly cringing – she still wasn't used to saluting or acting like a Britannian, but she figured that this was only temporary, until Britannia was reformed by Lelouch.

"Aside from that… Lloyd, I have a few of jobs for you."

"Ask away, Your Highness." Lloyd said, almost disinterested, causing Cécile to show displeasure at Lloyd's overly casual nature.

"First, I want the two of you to continue keeping the Guren SEITEN up-to-date. I want it in the best possible condition it can be in, we're going to need it. If it needs upgrades of any kind, you'll receive the funds for it."

"Yes, My Lord." Lloyd said, practically jumping at the chance to continue 'playing' with Rakshata's Magnum Opus. "And the other jobs, sire?"

Pulling out a couple of rolls of blueprints from beside his throne, Lelouch handed one to Lloyd. "This is to be a new Knightmare frame that we are to mass-produce for the soldiers of the empire. It technically classifies as a blend between 6th generation and 7th generation."

"This… this is incredible, Your Majesty!" He exclaimed, "I had never considered the possibility of this becoming reality! How did you figure this out? The implications are extraordinary!"

"That, I'm afraid, must be kept secret for now." Lelouch responded, eyes downcast.

"Very well, your highness." Lloyd decided to play along for now, not pressing him further, but the second blueprint Lelouch still held in his hand intrigued the sociopath. "And what of those plans, your majesty?"

"This is a specific commission for you for knightmares to be built in the same design of the Lancelot for C.C., and it includes some improvements to be added to my knightmare, the Shinkirou."

"But your majesty, the Lancelot was a one-off knightmare frame. Even if Suzaku hadn't taken the blueprints with him when he departed to Kamine Island, it would still be very difficult to manufacture another knightmare to the same, or at least similar," Lloyd chuckled, "specifications as my Lancel… I mean, our Lancelot." He corrected after receiving a particularly menacing glare from Cécile.

"All the details you will need are in these blueprints." The demon emperor calmly, "All right, you've got work to do, you're dismissed."

"Yes, your majesty." Both Cécile and Lloyd responded, exiting the hall. Once they were safely out of the hall, Lelouch sighed with relief.

"He's a genius, but he is difficult to work with." He explained, massaging his temples. "What I wouldn't give to still be working with Rakshata instead," prompting some small laughs from around the room, particularly from C.C., who couldn't help but love it when her warlock suffered.

"I can only imagine what her face would have been like after she discovered that Lloyd and Cécile were tinkering around in _her_ Guren." Kallen joked from Lelouch's side, resulting in the young man to chuckle.

"I think we all would have paid to have seen that." Lelouch remarked before returning to his somewhat stony demeanour of an emperor. "Jeremiah, any news on the whereabouts of the girl I mentioned?"

"Oh?" C.C. piped up from her seat, raising an eyebrow, then smiling in amusement as Lelouch shot her a glare saying that he knew exactly what she was implying.

"Unfortunately not, My Lord. She seems to have gone into hiding after recent events." Jeremiah responded, saluting in the traditional Britannian way.

"I can't say I'm surprised… but she is a necessary part of my plans. I severely doubt she would have left Area… sorry, Japan, she would have attracted too much attention to herself by doing so." Lelouch concluded. "It's possible that she's still hiding in Ashford Academy, knowing Milly she would have tried to shield her much like myself and…" He trailed off, the memory too painful to let him finish his sentence.

"That's a fairly logical thought process." Kallen piped up, trying to distract Lelouch from his own thoughts regarding Nunnally. Kallen also didn't fail to notice that Lelouch had corrected himself when referring to Japan, an act which both touched Kallen's heart somewhat and also told her that he eventually planned on dismantling the Area system.

"Should we attempt to investigate?" C.C. questioned, choosing to add to the discussion instead of simply making a snide remark.

"…no. If we were to strongarm our way into Ashford, it might make her hesitant to join us." Lelouch concluded, sitting back. "We will have to wait until the time is right."

"Very well, Your Majesty. If you'll excuse me." Jeremiah responded, turning to leave the hall.

"If you could excuse me as well, Lelouch, I will go and check on the Guren." Kallen said before turning to leave as well, choosing to leave through the door to the left of Lelouch's throne instead of the main door to the hall like Jeremiah had chosen to use.

"C.C." Lelouch stood up from his throne and turned to her. It wasn't meant to be an intimidation tactic, since it wouldn't work on C.C. to begin with, but given their relationship, Lelouch felt that he should at least be facing her when asking something of her. "I have a job for you."

"As long as it isn't too taxing." C.C. nonchalantly remarked from her smaller throne.

"Do you think it's possible that there might still be some geass cults out in the world? Like the Order of Geass, but much smaller?"

That caught her off guard, given that her eyebrows were raised. Evidently, she was not anticipating him asking that question. "I would have thought you left all of this behind when you destroyed the Order."

"If my plan for this world is to be completed I need to make sure that there can only be one with the power of the king."

"Being you."

"Correct. So, is it possible?"

"It's not out of the realm of possibility. Why?"

"I need you to try to locate any of these cults. We will need to take them down if we are to succeed." Lelouch stated clearly.

Smirking at Lelouch, C.C. stood up. "Very well, I'll do my best to find them. I should be able to pick up on them through previous Order locations."

"Take whatever resources you need… except money for pizza."

C.C. glared at Lelouch for that. He knew fully well that she would use up the empire's entire funding on pizza if she was given the chance, yet somehow, she managed to remain her slender self. The perks of being an immortal, Lelouch assumed.

"Very well, I'm borrowing your private jet." C.C. told him snidely as she left the hall through the main entrance.

Unbeknownst to them, however, was the fact that Lelouch's loyal knight Kallen had overheard the entire conversation. The subject matter itself wasn't so important to her, Kallen knew that the largest threats to Lelouch's rein were Schneizel and any remains of the Order of Geass. However, what she didn't like the feeling of was knowing that Lelouch was discussing these things only with his witch.

In other words, she felt jealous that he chose to keep secrets from her, his Knight of Zero.

* * *

 _Cambodia, undisclosed location_

Schneizel sat in his armchair, comfortably taking his time in thinking up several strategies in how to remove Lelouch from the throne that he had stolen from their father in order to implement his own vision for the world.

If there was one thing Schneizel and Lelouch could agree on, it was the need for wars across the world to come to an end, he mused.

His attention was caught by Cornelia, his sister, entering the room and joining him in one of the other armchairs in the room.

"How is our guest?" Schneizel asked, concern in his voice.

"She's resting, she was surprised by Lelouch's usurpation of the throne."

"Good, we don't need to have her overhearing any discussions which don't apply to her."

Getting Cornelia's attention, she sat up and motioned for him to continue.

"I've received an update from our associates, and the project is continuing without much delay."

"You mean to say that there are some issues in the construction?"

Schneizel sighed, eyes downcast. "Lelouch's actions as the emperor have made transporting materials difficult and hiding a project of this size isn't easy."

"What about the FLEIJA? And… what was her name?"

"Nina Einstein. We've been able to get our hands on all of the other FLEIJA and managed to develop a few more, but we haven't been able to locate her. It's almost like she's gone into hiding."

"I can't say I'm surprised." Cornelia lamented, thinking of her beloved younger sister. "She did effectively commit a massacre, so with the eyes of the world on her it would make sense to go into hiding."

"The good news is that our attempts to remove the limiter on the FLEIJA has been successful, though we are yet to test this unlimited FLEIJA."

"Unlimited?" Cornelia gasped. "How much deadlier could it be?"

"If the FLEIJA that went off in Area 11 was unlimited, the entire city would have been engulfed."

Cornelia allowed the horror she was feeling to show its way on her face. This could easily mean that the FLEIJA would become the most dangerous weapon in human history, if it hadn't already earned that title.

"It is all for the sake of removing Lelouch from the throne." Schneizel said, a tone of finality in his voice saying that he wouldn't discuss it further. "Off topic, have we managed to make contact with the EU or the Knights of the Round?"

"We've… had little success on the EU front." Cornelia slowly said, still trying to process the news about the FLEIJA. "After father's attacks on the EU front, there isn't much of a resistance left and some of what's left is siding with Lelouch."

"Hmmm…" Schneizel began to think, before deciding he would work on it later. "What about the Knights of the Round?"

"We haven't made direct contact with them, but we're inclined to believe that they're gathering. However, the outliers are, of course, Anya, who is here with us and Suzaku, who seems to have also disappeared."

The fact that Suzaku was nowhere to be seen surprised Schneizel. Would Suzaku join Lelouch? No, that seemed unlikely given their history, but it wasn't an impossibility. Would he join Schneizel's forces? It was possible, Lelouch was responsible for the death of his lover, and that was fuel that Schneizel could use.

One thing that the Second Prince of the Britannian empire was certain of was that it was extremely unlikely that he would stay out of the upcoming fight.

"Very well, let us see what the Knights of the Round end up doing." Schneizel finished, allowing himself to relax a little. "Do we have any idea of where they might be converging?"

Nodding, Cornelia pressed a button on a remote, turning on the TV in front of them, with a map of the world being displayed. With a further press of a button, a beacon suddenly appeared on the map. "We believe they're meeting here."

"The homeland?" Schniezel remarked aloud, thinking. "Why would they be congregating there?"

"It's the site of an old military base, they may be using it as a hideout of sorts."

'But why in the homeland?' Schneizel continued to think to himself. 'Surely that would make them more of a target…'

His eyes widened in sudden realisation.

"Cornelia, we need to do everything we can to get in touch with them as soon as possible." He turned to his sister, speaking authoritatively.

Caught off guard by her brother's sudden shift in demeanour, the former Viceroy of Area 11 responded, "Why? What have you realised?"

"If we want to stand a better chance of defeating Lelouch, we will need all of the Knights of the Round that we can get." Schneizel explained. "And it will be hard to get them to join our cause when they're dead."

* * *

 _Ashford Academy, Area 11_

"I'm still surprised by Lelouch's sudden take-over of the empire." Rivalz lamented, sighing. He, Nina and Milly were sitting in the bunker-like room that Nina had chosen to take shelter in after the incident with the FLEIJA, talking over some pizza. "I mean, I thought he was my best friend!"

"Evidently, he was hiding a lot more from us than we could ever have dreamed." Nina said quietly. She hadn't got on overly well with the former vice-president of the school council, but that didn't mean that she didn't consider him a friend, or at least an acquaintance.

However, now it felt like they were complete strangers, with how radically his personality had changed when he took the throne.

"Still, our school council managed to get pretty weird, didn't it!" Milly said cheerfully. Rivalz had always suspected she used her happier demeanour as a cover for when she was hurting but had never confronted her about it. "Suzaku ended up becoming a Knight of the Round, Kallen was a member of the Black Knights before becoming the Knight of Zero, and Lelouch became the emperor!"

"Almost sounds like the set up to some wild TV show." Rivalz remarked.

"Right?" Milly replied, excitedly. "I'd watch it."

"Me too." Nina smiled.

Even with the state of the world, there were still smiles to be found. Little did they know that they were managing to contribute to Lelouch's goal even in their situation.

* * *

 _Britannian homeland, undisclosed location_

Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three, sat in one of the many chairs in the room hunched over, his chin resting in his hands. They were supposed to meet 15 minutes ago, and he had actually arrived on time for once! What was the holdup?!

Finally, the door opened, revealing Bismark, the undisputed Knight of One, wearing his typically sullen look on his face and glancing over to Gino, acknowledging him.

"Nice for you to show up." Gino said sarcastically, a grin on his face.

"Where are the others?" Bismark responded, ignoring Gino's joke.

"Nice to see you too." Gino quipped. "I dunno, we were supposed to meet here 15 minutes ago!"

Upon finishing his sentence, the door opened again, revealing the Knight of Four, Dorothea Ernst, and the Knight of Twelve, Monica Krushevsky.

"Good, now we can begin." Bismark started.

"…late." Gino whispered quietly.

"Tomorrow is the day, fellow Knights. How are preparations on the knightmare frames?"

"Florence is all tuned up, sir!" Monica responded eagerly, hoping to show the Knight of One how strongly she felt about their cause.

"The Tristan is as good as she's gonna get without help from some genius like Lloyd or… what was the name of that scientist with the Black Knights?" Tristan asked.

"Rakshata, and we will not be enlisting her." Bismark dismissed, "We still do not know whether Lelouch stand with or against the Black Knights, so enlisting them is a risk I'm not willing to take."

"Roger that." Gino waved lazily.

"Palomides is also ready to launch." Dorothea said proudly.

"As is Galahad." Bismark finished. "How many other true Britannians do we have with Knightmares?"

"Approximately 2000, sir." Monica answered, "And as far as we're aware, Lelouch only has his 'Knight of Zero' as the head of his strike team."

"That information is subject to change, given our opposition." Bismark dismissed. It had to take a real genius to take down the previous emperor of Britannia, in Bismark's opinion, so he couldn't underestimate his opponent's strategical abilities.

"Not to mention that Kallen is a top-notch pilot." Gino piped up. "Even in an inferior model, she can be a threat."

"Noted." Dorothea responded. "When shall we launch the operation?"

"At 1300 hours. That is when we shall take back Britannia."

* * *

 **Was it worth the wait? Probably not, but here we are.**

 **I tried my best to keep things relatively vague in this chapter, as one thing I've noticed whilst watching or reading something is that I can sometimes predict what's gonna happen, so sometimes writing a bit more vaguely can actually add to the experience.**

 **Anyway, please leave a review, and once again, I apologise for the LONG hiatus!**


	5. The Knights of the Round Approach

**So I didn't actually realise how popular this story was. Like, I knew it had a following but geez guys, roughly 300 of you wanting to see where this story goes? That's insane. I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you for sticking with this story despite how stupid long the hiatus was, and thank everyone who continues to write reviews for this story, it really makes my day to receive a notification on my tablet and see that someone has written a review for this.**

 **So seriously, thank you, everyone.**

 **Without further ado, let the story continue!**

 **Disclaimer: something something I don't own Code Geass something something**

* * *

 _Outside Capital City Pendragon, Britannian Homeland_

"On this day, we, the true Britannians, will take back our homeland!" Bismark yelled from his Knightmare, Galahad, over the speaker. The response to which was a rallying cry that could be heard all the way from the capital city itself. "Charge!"

Sutherlands fitted with float units began to charge towards Pendragon, their weapons brandished in their hands. They were still roughly a kilometre away from the city itself, but it didn't stop the citizens from trembling in fear at the sight of roughly 2000 forces charging towards them.

"Sir, something's off." Dorothea said over the radio, static causing her voice to crackle a little. "We're this close and yet they still haven't sent out any forces to stop us."

"Acknowledged. We must all remain on guard as we continue to approach." Bismark relayed to the other troops, who all acknowledged the order.

High above them, Gino sat in his Knightmare, Tristan, watching the ongoing assault. Given his past history with Kallen, he was given the duty of overseeing the battle and to warn of any approaching forces from flanks and was only allowed to engage if the tide of battle turned against them.

"Gah, this is boring…" Gino sighed, continuing to watch the forces approach the city. "Approximately 750 meters to go, sir… what is that?"

What appeared to be a red missile launched rapidly from the capital city, rising high into the sky, like a firework, before stopping immediately. Now that it had stopped, Gino recognised it immediately.

"Code red! Code red! That's the Guren!" The Knight of Three warned his allies as he began to transform his Knightmare into its flight-oriented mode. He'd need to get down to support the other knights quickly, as he was the only one who had previously fought against her. He knew better than anyone how dangerous she could be behind the controls of a Knightmare.

* * *

 _High above Capital City Pendragon, Britannian Homeland_

"Kallen, as we discussed, you shall take them on alone." Lelouch spoke to her over the radio. "C.C. will be available on backup if things turn sour, however."

"Yes, your majesty." Kallen affirmed, "Beginning defence of the capital city!"

'And Lelouch,' She thought to herself.

She dropped downwards towards the rebel forces, firing several beams from the Guren's right hand toward some of the Sutherlands that were closer to the capital, destroying them immediately. Pulling a small blade out of its sheathe on the lower back of her Knightmare, she activated the MVS functionality of the blade, immediately causing it to harden and become that much more efficient as a weapon. She began cutting up several Sutherlands on her left, charging past them as she launched the Guren SEITEN's right hand towards another, vaporising it immediately.

Spotting a particularly larger Knightmare to her right, Kallen retracted her right arm, letting it lock back into place. "A custom frame… or a custom Knightmare?" Kallen wondered aloud. Deciding not to take the risk, Kallen began to fly towards it at break-neck speeds, which were evidently too fast for the pilot to handle.

"How can a Knightmare move that fast?" The pilot questioned over the radio. Kallen came to a stop directly in front of it, mere metres away from her foe before she grabbed the chest of the Knightmare and fully activated the right arm of her Guren. It quickly began to disform, a sign of the Guren's Radiation Wave doing its job, before Kallen quickly shut it off and back away from the resulting explosion.

"Dorothea!" A voice yelled out, getting Kallen's attention as a Hadron Cannon fired towards her. In response, the Knight of Zero chose to activate the Radiation Wave and used it like a shield, blocking the shot entirely. Lowering her arm, and letting a canister pop out of the arm before it reloaded itself, Kallen looked towards her assailant.

"Well done, Q-1." Lelouch spoke softly over the radio, Kallen appreciating that, despite her much loftier station, he still used the same codename for her that he used as Zero. "You've taken out a good third of their forces, including one of the Knights of the Round. Take out the one in front of you and you should have no more nuisances."

"Yes, your highness!" Kallen responded confidently. Beginning to charge forwards, dodging another shot from the hadron cannons.

"Remember, this battle, as anticipated, is being shown worldwide. We need to show the power that Britannia has, for the sake of the world." Lelouch continued. "Don't let me down, Kallen," he added, softly.

"Of course, Lelouch!" Kallen answered with a smile, a dusting of blush on her face. Dodging yet another blast from the back-mounted hadron cannons before launching her slash harken towards her opponent, causing it to lose balance.

This gave Kallen the opportunity she needed as she retracted her slash harken, drawing her in towards the Knightmare as she slashed with her knife, effectively cutting the tips off of the hadron cannons, making them almost useless.

That didn't stop her opponent from trying to use them regardless, though. However, with the tips of the cannon gone, their accuracy had been reduced from their usual state greatly, causing the hadron cannon to no longer converge the shot, resulting in the 'finished product' of a hadron cannon becoming more like a prototype.

Taking this chance, Q-1 launched the right arm of the Guren towards her foe, waiting for it to impale the target before activating the Radiation Wave, leaving another Knight of the Round to leave this world.

"Kallen!" A voice called out from above. Looking up, Kallen saw the Tristan in it's Fortress Mode, flying rapid towards her as it fired one of its massive arm-mounted slash harkens before starting to transform back into the typical Knightmare form.

"Gino!" Kallen shouted back, catching the slash harken with the Guren's right arm, crushing it immediately. Now that he was without one of the two slash harkens, his offensive capabilities decreased somewhat, as he no longer had the ability to fire of an energy cannon.

That didn't stop Gino however, as he drew forth both of his MVS Polearms in both arms as he continued to approach Kallen, who chose to simply dodge out of the way with her increased speed.

Deciding to stop for a moment, the Tristan turned to face the Guren, with Gino speaking to Kallen. "Y'know, Kallen, I just don't get you, sometimes."

"Care to explain?" Kallen responded, cocking an eyebrow.

"Back in Area 11, you chose the name Kozuki over Stadfeld." He elaborated, "But now, here you are, fighting for old man Lelouch. Does this mean you still go by Kozuki, or are you a Stadfeld now that you're fighting for Britannia?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you." Kallen dismissed, readying her Fork Knife.

"I'd rather not fight you if I could get away with it, but…" Similarly, Gino also readied his Polearms into a fighting stance.

Neither made the first move, both waiting to see who would provide the first opening. The tension between the two of them so thick it could have been cut with the bluntest of knives.

Gino dashed forwards, hoping to take Kallen by surprise, swinging his right polearm in the process. He'd greatly underestimated his opponent, however, as Kallen merely used her Fork Knife to parry the weapon away, leaving the Tristan defenceless for the moment.

Kallen capitalised on this opportunity, using the Guren's right arm to smash the customised float unit that allowed the Tristan to move at such speeds, causing it to begin plummeting towards the earth. Such a fall would be unlikely to kill her opponent, she knew, but she had other things to deal with.

"Kallen Kozuki!" A voice boomed, immediately catching her attention as she turned the Guren to face her next opponent, who she could see the silhouette of as he hovered in front of the sun, giving her enemy an almost ethereal appearance. "You have done well to defeat my forces so far! However, here is where you fall!"

"Oh, yeah?" Kallen smirked, her confidence showing. "And you are?"

"The strongest Knight of the empire!" He bellowed, lowering his Knightmare down to face his opponent. "I, Bismark Waldstein, am the Knight of One! My Knightmare Galahad and my blade Excalibur are yet to fall in battle!"

"Very well," Kallen responded, "I, Kallen Kozuki, the Knight of Zero, accept your challenge!"

"A false title from a false emperor!" Bismark yelled as he drew his blade, activating the MVS functionality.

"Kallen, Bismark was unchallenged as the Knight of One under the rule of my father." Lelouch warned, a dash of worry donning his face, "He may be your toughest opponent yet."

"We'll see about that!" Kallen yelled, flying at breakneck speeds towards her opponent. Expecting him to have no chance of keeping up, she thrust the Guren's right arm towards her opponent, aiming to grab onto the head of the frame.

However, Bismark seemed to have anticipated this completely, as he reacted immediately, with his blade blocking Kallen's assault before swiping her away, causing her to regain her balance.

"What?!" Kallen exclaimed, surprised. No other foe had been able to keep up with her in the Guren SEITEN, so seeing this had shocked her.

Writing it off as a fluke, Kallen charged forwards again, this time choosing to quickly dash behind the Galahad before attacking.

Once again, however, her adversary merely moved his blade to block her attack before swiping at her.

"Urgh!" Kallen yelled out, feeling the brunt of the swipe against her Knightmare. "How are you doing that?"

"Foolish girl." Bismark retorted, the sound of a snide smirk coming through in his voice, "Don't try to comprehend what you can't understand!" He finished, rapidly swinging Excalibur towards the Guren, cleanly taking off its left leg, causing it to begin to spin wildly, control sapped away.

"Kallen!" Lelouch yelled through the communications, worry plastered all over his face, "He's too much for you! Pull back so C.C. has time to join you!"

"N-no!" Kallen replied, strained as she tried to wrestle control over the Knightmare, "I can do this! We need to show the world what we can do!"

Lelouch fought back the urge to deny Kallen, his emotions threatening to overthrow his strategy to prioritise her safety. Fighting the impulse with every fibre of his being, he straightened his face, took a breath and nodded, allowing Kallen to continue.

Against his better judgement, according to his feelings.

Kallen managed to steady out her Knightmare as best as she could when it was missing one leg. It's overall flight abilities hadn't been majorly affected, but the sudden loss of a leg did mean that the centre of balance had been shifted slightly, requiring her to adjust accordingly.

"Is this all that the 'Knight of Zero' is able to do?" The Knight of One taunted, trying to provoke a reaction from his opponent. "Face me and my geass power of foresight if you dare!"

"He has a geass?" Kallen muttered, eyes widening before her face melded into a more sceptical one, "Kind of a stupid call to let you opponent know about one of your abilities. You just lost your advantage."

"Whether you know of my power or not is irrelevant, for I shall be the victor!" Bismark declared, thrusting his sword upwards, seeming to use the action as a sign of clear victory. "Now, come at me, fake Knight!"

"We'll see who the victor is!" Kallen yelled, plans stirring in her head as she thrust her right arm forward before it missed its mark.

' _If his geass allows for the power of foresight, then wouldn't that mean that he can see what I'm doing?'_ She thought to herself before deciding to test her theory by swinging her Knife Fork several times at her opponent, only for every swing to be blocked by her foe's sword.

However, just when Kallen had given up hope on defeating her foe, an idea struck her mind.

Smiling sinisterly to herself, she piloted her Guren to back away from her enemy, avoiding his swings with his blade as she enacted her plan.

' _It's barely past the testing phase, but it may be what will actually allow me to win!'_ Kallen thought to herself before entering a code on the Guren's keypad.

"Kallen!" Lloyd's face now popped up on one of the monitors, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Activating the boost effect for the energy wings. It's the only way I can win!"

"But they're not done with testing yet! One wrong move and it could be the end of you! …and your Knightmare." The Earl of Pudding muttered the last part.

"Right now, we don't have a choice!" Kallen professed, having finished entering the code 'pudding' as a prompt appeared on her primary screen asking whether she wanted to activate the function.

"…very well. One last question, how did you find the passcode for it?"

"Guessed. You can be a little predictable sometimes." She explained, dodging cleanly to the left of the massive sword of her foes' swing.

Chuckling, Lloyd saluted her lazily through the monitor, "Very well, good luck!" He finished before shutting off communications.

Confirming on the prompt that she wanted to activate the boost function, she felt her Knightmare roar to life as its wings glowed significantly brighter than before, signifying the activation.

"What's this?" Bismark remarked, "A last ditch attempt to defeat me?" He readied his weapon, preparing to thrust directly into his foe. "Preposterous!"

He propelled his blade forward, only to find that his foe had mysteriously vanished from his field of view.

"What?!" He yelled, confused before his geass warned him of an attack from behind. He barely had any time to react before managing to block a strike with the hilt of his blade. "How?!"

Once again, his geass warned him of the next attack, and another one immediately after that from behind, and yet another one after that. His geass continued to warn him to continuous attacks from his enemy, all happening less than seconds apart.

Desperately attempting to block all of the attacks as best as he could, a million different thoughts ran through Bismark's head. How is she able to move that fast? Will it only be for a short period of time? Will I be able to last?

His geass warning him of so many different attacks all within rapid succession of each other caused his brain to feel overloaded. _'This usually doesn't happen this soon!'_ He thought to himself through the pain, desperately trying to make the effect last longer. _'I must win! For his Majesty!'_

Kallen's unrelenting attacks were beginning to land effectively, taking small chunks of the Galahad as she did so.

' _I've got to be quick though, this speed won't last much longer.'_ Kallen thought to herself, hoping that she would be able to land the finishing blow as soon as she could. Letting this boost functionality run too long could cause some major damage to her Knightmare.

Soon enough, the opportunity presented itself to her, as Bismark's guard had been lowered somewhat from her merciless attacks, and soon, the cockpit of the Knightmare was exposed.

"This is the end!" Kallen yelled out, immediately activating the Radiant Wave functionality of the Guren's right arm so that it would take effect immediately upon landing. The claws of her right hand pierced her foe's hull, impaling the pilot in the process, as the Knightmare began to warp as a result of the radiation given off by her Knightmare.

"I… failed you… Marianne…" Bismark sputtered before the claws were retracted from the remains of his Knightmare, becoming engulfed in the explosion.

Sighing in relief, Kallen deactivated her boost functionality as she began to return to base. No doubt Lloyd would shout at her for letting 'his toy' be damaged under her care.

* * *

"People of the world!" Lelouch bellowed out, his presence being shown on monitors and televisions across the globe, "Now you know the might of Britannia! As you have seen, even a single one of my Knights is enough to take out the Knights of the Round!

"Do not think this as a sign of war, however. My ideal is to pronounce an end to all wars!" His ideal was met with confusion from all those who watched. The same man who had just broadcasted his Knight defeating his foes so easily wanted to end all wars?

"That's right! To further emphasise this, I will be bringing an end to the Area system that has been in place in Britannian culture once all wars have ended, and we have a tangible peace!" He proclaimed, thrusting his arms in the air to further accentuate his point. "Furthermore, I would like to meet with the representatives of the United Federations of Nations to discuss diplomacy and governance of the world in this time of peace."

More confusion arose from this declaration. Britannia, a global superpower, choosing to give up territory in the name of peace? And meeting with the UFN?

"However, this peace cannot be enacted immediately." Lelouch said sombrely, dropping his arms to his sides, entwining his fingers together. "Unfortunately, I have reason to believe that the former Prime Minister of Britannia, Prince Schneizel, is looking to remove me from the throne. From this point onwards, he is to be treated as a criminal of war." He announced, "As such, the Area system cannot be dismantled until he is stopped. I sincerely hope that the UFN and its affiliates will provide the assistance that I need to stop Schneizel in the name of peace." He finished, ending the transmission.

* * *

 _Cambodia, undisclosed location_

"Well, outing me as a war criminal." Schneizel chuckled, "That wasn't very nice of you, dear brother."

"Since we're aligned with you, that means we'll be treated the same." Anya spoke bluntly, not looking up from her electronic diary.

"Indeed." Schneizel agreed, before a sinister smile donned his face, "What about her? Would Lelouch treat her like a war criminal, given the circumstances?" He finished, laughing slightly to himself.

"We should keep her quiet for now, sir. The sooner he knows about her, the sooner we lose a piece." Kanon advised.

"Excellent advice, Kanon." The Second Price of the Britannian Imperial Family answered, his light purple eyes shining as plans continued to whirl their way around his mind. "We wouldn't want to lose a single piece in this massive game of chess that my dear brother and I are playing."

He took a moment to rest his chin on his hand, trying to plan around his brother's declaration. It would certainly be difficult to receive a large amount of support now that the world knows that Lelouch fights for 'peace', whatever the form it would take in his vision.

"Kanon, how is the progress on Damocles?"

Pulling up a small tablet, Kanon tapped a few times on the screen before answering. "The FLEIJA system is complete, including the firing protocol, but the overall progress is slow."

"Do you think we'd be able to speed the progress up at all? We may need it sooner than planned."

"Our resources are already spread thin as it is. It's doubtful that we'd be able to build it faster." The Earl of the Empire responded.

Thinking for a moment, Schneizel continued, "What if we used Lelouch's declaration to our advantage?"

"Sir?"

Smiling, Schneizel stood up, "Kanon, try to see if we can monitor any communications between the United Federation of Nations and Britannia, we will need to know when they are to meet."

"Yes sir. And what about Damocles, sir?"

"Tell our development team to dig into my personal funds to help speed up the production. Tell them to take as much as they need to have it done as soon as possible." He replied, a sinister smile donning his face.

* * *

 _A141F5 Ikaruga, Outside UFN headquarters_

"Dammit!" Tamaki yelled in frustration, smacking his foot against the nearest hard object. "Is Lelouch a good guy or a bad guy? I'm so confused!"

"It seems he really does intend to dismantle the old Britannia." Tohdoh said, the internal conflict he was feeling visible on his face, "Were we wrong to believe what Schneizel said? Should we have continued to put our faith in the man who would have destroyed Britannia?"

"Not necessarily." Rakshata waved her hand lazily, lying on her sofa, "We still don't know enough about his 'geass' to confirm whether or not we were under his control."

"Rakshata's right!" Ohgi piped up, "We can't try to put faith into someone so manipulative!"

"But what about the whole 'bringing an end to the Area system' thing?" Tamaki asked, his confusion laid bare on his face, "Surely that's a sign of his good intentions?"

"It could be a cover for something much larger." Kaguya Sumeragi spoke up, her apparent age seeming to act itself as a cover for how intelligent she was, "Promising to dismantle the Area system once Schneizel is defeated? That sounds too good to be true."

"Exactly," Xingke spoke up, acting as the newly appointed head of the Black Knights. "We should know better than to take what he says at face value."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, showing the conflict that the members of the Black Knights were feeling over this topic.

"The problem is…" Villetta spoke up, having evidently entered the room shortly before the end of the conversation, "…that it seems like a lot of members of our private army here appear to be showing support for Lelouch's declaration."

"What do you mean?" Tamaki asked, acting as the slow individual that he was known for.

"What she means," Ohgi elaborated, having immediate caught on to what his paramour was implying, "Is that if we decide to stand against Lelouch and his ideals, then we may be seen to stand against the ideals of peace."

"And if that happens," Tohdoh continued, "We may lose the support of the UFN and be seen as a terrorist group."

Realisation slowly dawned on Tamaki's face, quickly being replaced with anger, kicking the nearest hard object in response.

"Dammit!" He yelled, "So we have no choice but to ally with him?"

"Not exactly," Xingke answered, "But it does give us very little room to move."

Everyone in the command room of the Ikaruga was left speechless. Lelouch, by asserting that he would fight for peace, had effectively put all of his enemies into check. They wouldn't be able to act without the general public viewing them as terrorists who fought to destroy any semblance of peace in the world.

"O-off topic," Ohgi spoke up, hoping to dispel some of the tension that had been built up in the room, "What about Kallen?"

"What _about_ Kallen?" Tamaki asked, clearly not getting at what his ally and long-time friend was asking.

"I mean, what should we do about Kallen?" He clarified.

"I don't think there's much that we _can_ do about her, as unfortunate as it may be." Tohdoh said sombrely.

"Well, surely there's something we can do!" Tamaki yelled. He saw Kallen as a close ally who was clearly passionate for the cause that her brother had founded, so to see her so readily abandon said cause was jarring to the man, to say the least.

"She's allied herself with Lelouch, Emperor of Britannia." Empress Tianzi spoke up from next to Kaguya, her crimson eyes showing how shy she felt in this situation, "And she's shown what she will do in his name already."

"Exactly," Kaguya continued for her shy friend, "She's shown that she's clearly able to defeat some of the strongest enemies that the Empire had in his name, so clearly she's not one to shy away from her duties in her position."

Growling, Tamaki continued, "Well, maybe she's being blackmailed or something!" Suddenly, a lightbulb flashed on in his mind, "Geass! Maybe she's under his control!"

"It's certainly a possibility." Tohdoh answered, deep in thought, "However…"

"…if she is under the control of geass, then it makes it all the harder to save her." Li Xingke finished.

"How so?!" Tamaki yelled, demanding an answer.

"As Rakshata said earlier, we don't know enough about geass to determine whether she's under his control." Tohdoh explained, his frown never leaving his face, "And even if we did manage to confirm that she was under the control of his geass, and if we managed to successfully capture her as well, we would have no way to free her from the curse that is geass."

Grumbling, Tamaki continued, this time in a much quieter voice. "I still say we shouldn't give up on her."

"We never said that we would." Kaguya replied, offering a small smile to the downtrodden man. "But we still need to address Lelouch's request."

"Meeting with the UFN to discuss diplomacy." The General Commander of the Black Knights clarified, nodding. "If we refuse to contact him, then we will be seen to stand against him, but if we try to contact him, then we will be seen to stand with him."

"Indeed." The Leader of the Four Holy Swords agreed, deep in thought. He was still conflicted over having betrayed the man who he had put so much of his faith in previously, but he wouldn't publicly state that he was having this conflict. "Perhaps it might be an idea to give him a chance, to see what he will be able to do as an Emperor of Britannia."

Shock could be seen around the room at this statement. Whilst most of the room was left speechless at Kyoshiro's idea, the Head of the Black Knights' Research and Development Team started laughing, causing all eyes to turn towards her. "So, you had the same idea, Tohdoh?"

"Rakshata, Tohdoh, you can't seriously be considering joining with him?" Ohgi questioned, outraged that his allies would even contemplate the idea of joining the man who had claimed to have been using all of them like chess pieces.

"Apologies, Ohgi, but I must agree with them as well." Xingke sighed, "He's made his stance fairly clear as Emperor, and as we have no idea of what his goals might be, we have to take it at face value."

"This is ridiculous!" Ohgi yelled, "You would rather ally yourselves with that monster than try to keep as much of a distance between us and him as possible?"

"Would you rather face the entire Britannian empire's might then?" Xingke asked, "Or have to suffer a mutiny in our own forces due to the contrasting feelings between our members regarding Lelouch's declaration?" He allowed the gravity of the situation to sink in before continuing. "We cannot be led by our feelings in times like these, we have to do what we can see as the logical and correct option, and that's final."

Ohgi dropped his head as Villetta placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him that this was for the best.

"Begin preparations to make contact with Lelouch!" Xingke ordered.

* * *

 _Capital City Pendragon, Britannian Homeland_

"Congratulations, Kallen!" Lelouch smiled towards his faithful knight, causing her heart to skip a beat. It wasn't a fake smile, like those she had seen to many times before from him, it was a very real smile. "It's no small feat to have done what you managed to do today."

"Thank you, 'your majesty'" She joked with a small smile of her own. "I just wish I had been able to do it without having the Guren becoming damaged as it did…"

"Nonsense, what matters is that you not only managed to successfully defeat 4 Knights of the Round, including the 'invincible' Knight of One, but you managed to return alive as well!" Lelouch continued to praise her for her talents.

"I see… well, thank you for having faith in me for being able to defeat them." The Knight of Zero answered sincerely.

"Of course. I imagine that our engineering team wasn't very happy to see your Knightmare in the condition that it's in."

Laughing slightly, she nodded. Moments like these, where they weren't subordinate and superior and were just friends chatting really did mean the world to her.

Which was why…

"Lelouch." Kallen suddenly spoke seriously, dispelling the air around them for a serious conversation. "About the geass that you have cast upon me…"

"Yes?" Lelouch answered, a look of surprise donning his face. Evidently, he was not anticipating her asking about it again.

"Is… is there any way to remove it?" She pleaded, her face only asking a question but her eyes showing her desperation.

Lelouch's eyes widened in astonishment before he answered. "Are you having some doubts, Q-1?"

Kallen's mouth opened to deny the accusation, but then closed as she looked downwards. She had been having some doubts about whether her loyalty to Lelouch was caused by geass and whether he had been telling the truth when he elaborated on the geass that had been cast upon her. She needed to know that her feelings for the man weren't the result of some voodoo magic that she didn't fully understand.

She just had to.

"Very well, if it will help you feel better about yourself…" Lelouch continued, pulling a small communicator out of his pocket. "Jeremiah, join me in the throne room as soon as possible."

" _At once, sire."_

Soon, 'Orange' arrived, saluting to his emperor, his Geass Canceler shining in the sunlight.

"Good day, sire, how can I be of service?"

"I need you to use your Geass Canceler on the Knight of Zero." Lelouch answered plainly, not elaborating further.

Some surprise donned Jeremiah's face, most likely that he realised that Lelouch had used his geass on one of his most trusted confidants, but that surprise quickly vanished as he set about doing his duty.

The eyepiece covering his left eye opened, revealing his Geas Canceler before it activated, shattering Kallen's geass. The action caused her to lose her balance slightly, falling backwards as Lelouch caught her arm, pulling her back onto her feet. She held her head as memories of Lelouch asking her about her terrorism activities swarmed her mind.

' _So, he was telling the truth!'_ She thought to herself, _'I was right to trust him, after all.'_

"Thank you, Jeremiah, you're dismissed." Lelouch told him as he held Kallen by her shoulders, receiving a salute in response before Jeremiah exited the hall. "Are you okay, Kallen?"

"…thank you, Lelouch." Kallen said with a small smile, one which Lelouch couldn't help but think that it was cute.

"What for?"

"For telling the truth." She elaborated, leaning in to Lelouch to rest her head on his shoulder, "I knew I was right to trust you."

Kallen's actions were completely unexpected to Lelouch, so he had no idea of how to react to them. "O-oh, well, y-you're welcome."

His actions caused her to laugh, "The emperor of Britannia becomes a stuttering mess at the slightest sign of affection? Who would've thought?"

"Very funny, Kallen." Whilst his sarcastic statement was filled with venom, she could detect a strong feeling of care in his words.

Pulling her head away from his shoulder, she made eye contact with him again. "Lelouch, I have another question."

Wiping the blush from his face, Lelouch faced her and nodded, signalling her to continue.

"Now that I know that I'm not here under your control, I'm going to ask you again – what do I _mean_ to you?" The desperation in her voice wasn't intentional, but it did help drive her point home. "After all that we've been through, I _need_ to know."

Lelouch, once again, was left speechless. He contemplated the question for a moment before answering. "Follow me, we'll discuss this somewhere a bit more private."

Exiting the throne room, Kallen followed closely behind Lelouch as he led her through the hallways. Whilst their actual heights weren't that different, being only 3 inches apart, the gap in their height couldn't have felt more different to her as she followed him. His regal appearance as the emperor making him seem like the tallest in the world, whilst her position as a knight feeling miniscule behind him.

He stopped outside a door before entering a code quickly on the panel next to said door, causing it to open before he entered. She followed him in, the door closing behind her, resulting in the two of them being enshrouded in darkness before the lights in the room activated.

"This is my private office." Lelouch explained as he sat in the chair that had been placed in front of the desk. "I don't want C.C. to overhear this conversation, as she has a habit of doing with most of my conversations, hence why we're having it here in this soundproofed office."

Kallen glanced around the room briefly. It wasn't overly large, but it had storage space for documents regarding details of the empire and a desk large enough to accommodate any work required there.

"In regards to your question…" Lelouch answered, a light dusting of blush donning his cheeks as he continued to make eye contact. "Kallen, you are my closest ally, and my most trusted confidant. You have shown endless loyalty to me and my cause, regardless of whether it was with the Black Knights or now, as Emperor of Britannia. Words cannot do me justice in regards to what you mean to me, as you are so important to me that I wish nothing bad could ever happen to you. Your continued faith in me even when captured by Britannian forces proves this, as you immediately joined me at my side despite the fact it had taken far too long to rescue you." He paused, "Your constant support at my side is comforting, and I can't thank you enough for going this far for me. I can only hope that you will continue to be at my side for many days to come."

Kallen welled up at Lelouch's confession. Whilst he hadn't said the three words that Kallen desperately wanted to hear, the rest of his speech had certainly said it.

Seizing the moment, she stepped forward, sat in Lelouch's lap and captured his lips, her legs encompassing his as her arms curled their way around his neck. After some initial surprise from Lelouch, he leaned into the kiss, returning it, his arms wrapping around her waist as he pulled her closer.

Her tongue begged entry to his lips as they continued to kiss, with him granting her entry as the kiss deepened further. Kallen sliding her waist forward as she began to straddle his legs, her hands beginning to roam over Lelouch's body, feeling his physique as he ran his hands up and down her back.

" _Your majesty!"_ Jeremiah's voice called out from the communications device in Lelouch's pocket, causing them to separate quickly, trying to recompose themselves. Kallen internally swore at Jeremiah for interrupting the moment.

Catching his breath, Lelouch pulled the device out and brought it up to his face, "Y-yes, Jeremiah?"

" _We've received confirmation from UFN officials that they will be meeting with us, and they would like to open communications to discuss a time and location."_ Jeremiah explained through the receiver.

"Very well, prepare the throne room for me, I'll be there shortly." Lelouch answered, putting the device back into his pocket as he looked to his companion. Blush began to don his face slightly as the memory of her soft form re-entered his mind before he desperately tried to push the thoughts to the back of his mind, straightening his face. "Shall we, Kallen?" He asked, trying to be sincere but he couldn't help but allow a tone of caring come through in his voice.

Kallen, picking up on this, nodded, following him out of the room.

* * *

 _Outside Capital City Pendragon, Britannian Homeland_

"C'mon, Tristan, do me a favour and fly already!" Gino yelled in the cockpit of the remains of the Tristan. "I can see that you've still got power, let's go already!"

Despite his protests, the Tristan barely moved. The fall from when Kallen had defeated him had severely damaged the functionality of the Knightmare, effectively leaving as a sitting duck outside of the capital city.

Movement on one of the monitors in the Tristan caught Gino's attention, causing him to stare in surprise as a Britannian transport ship touched down a short distance away from the remnants of his Knightmare.

' _This is it.'_ He thought to himself, _'This is where I meet my end… it was a good run.'_

Bracing himself as the doors to the transport ship opened, revealing a single figure stood in the doorway.

Surprise could be seen over Gino's face as she opened the cockpit doors to his Knightmare, standing up to make eye contact with the newcomer. "Y-you!"

"I watched your assault on Pendragon, Gino. I've got to say, it wasn't your finest hour." The newcomer mocked, prompting Gino to grit his teeth in response.

"After all your talk of mutiny, you come back to me?! What do you want?!" The Knight of Three yelled at the new arrival.

Extending a hand slowly out to the enraged Knight, the person spoke. "I'd like you to join me."

* * *

 **Oh boy, we're getting into the thick of it now! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Writing smutty stuff is kinda hard but I think I did a good job here, just to tease you guys.**

 **Fun fact: This is the longest chapter by far at the time of writing. Similarly, when I'm writing out ideas for chapters, the final draft of ideas for this chapter ended up being 5 and a half A6 pages long (it's a little notebook I use for fanfic plans, I've had it since the beginning of this series). So yeah, I'm fairly proud of this chapter. Hopefully I can keep the hype going!**

 **In case you missed it because you don't read niche MHA fanfics, I also have a tumblr! I go by the same name on there that I go by on here, so give me a follow if you want. I'm yet to really make any posts of my own, but I do want to start using it properly soon. I'll probably post updates on new chapters on there, as well as just reblogging stuff I like (expect a lot of MHA, Dark Souls and Code Geass, amongst others).**

 **Don't forget to review! See you all in the next chapter!**


	6. Conference with the Black Knights

**Another long overdue chapter, but at least it's a little more consistent than it was! To be honest the delay for this chapter is purely because I was simply putting it off, so apologise for that.**

 **Without further ado, here's the next chapter of Kallen the Loyal!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass**

* * *

"Jeremiah, summon C.C. to the throne room for me." Lelouch spoke into his communicator as he walked, Kallen following diligently behind him as they approached. "Make sure you're there as well."

" _Yes, your highness."_ The cyborg responded, prompting Lelouch to place the device back into his pocket. Ideally, having Lloyd and Cecile there for this conference would be beneficial as well, if only to provide some light-hearted humour to the situation due to the Earl's lack of situational awareness. However, the production of the knightmares came first, and Lelouch couldn't pull them away for such a simple reason. As a result, he'd decided he would only need Jeremiah, Kallen and C.C. for this event.

As the thoughts of the redhead crossed his mind, Lelouch glanced back at the Knight of Zero as she was following behind him, thoughts of the tender moment they'd shared just seconds before now dancing across his psyche, causing his cheeks to flush slightly at the memory. It hadn't been his first kiss, that honour had gone to C.C. during the Black Rebellion, but that one seemed to be a simple sign of their bond as opposed to what he and Kallen had just done.

Pushing impure thoughts to the back of his mind, Lelouch steeled himself as he willed his blush to vanish from his face. He couldn't very well show weakness during an important meeting such as this.

Entering the throne room, the Emperor of Britannia was pleased to see that both Jeremiah and C.C. were already present, with the Knight of Orange standing to attention next to C.C.'s throne as she sat there lazily. "At ease, Jeremiah." Lelouch called out, raising a hand slightly. "Whilst it's important to show my trust in you all, I don't need to have you standing so still like your life depends on it."

Breathing out gently, the former Pureblood smiled softly. "Thank you, your highness."

Sitting down onto his own throne, he continued. "Having said that, you could stand to sit a little straighter, Witch." He remarked snidely, glaring slightly at the green haired woman next to her as Kallen stood at ease on Lelouch's left.

"You can have all the power in the world and you still won't be able to boss me around, boy." She replied sharply, but despite her protests, she complied with his request somewhat, choosing to sit up slightly so she wasn't quite lounging in her throne. As she moved, she reached behind her throne to grab the Cheese-kun plush that was seemingly stored behind it, holding it close to herself as she cuddled it, prompting a chuckle from Lelouch and small smiles from the others in the room.

"Jeremiah, shall we begin the conference?" Lelouch cued as the man in question pulled a remote seemingly out of thin air, pressing a couple of buttons as a grand television screen lowered from the ceiling, switching on and immediately showing the face of the liaison who would be discussing diplomatic circumstances of peace in the near future.

"Kaguya Sumeragi, am I correct?" Lelouch spoke eloquently, bowing his head slightly. "It is an honour to meet the spokesperson of the United Federation of Nations."

"Lelouch…" Kaguya muttered, her eyes determined and focused on the man before her. "What are your goals? Why make that declaration?"

"Why, Chairman Sumeragi, you speak like we've known each other for years!" He laughed lightly, prompting a few eyebrows to be raised as to his actions and word choice. "As I stated in my broadcast, I desire peace for everyone, and that can only be achieved once Schneizel el Britannia is behind bars."

Kaguya continued to look at him, confused. He'd been acting like he didn't know her… was it possible that Lelouch had amnesia or something which made him forget about everyone else? But what wouldn't explain why Kallen, C.C. and Jeremiah were still loyal to him.

Putting her musings aside for the moment, Kaguya continued. "You say that Schneizel being put in jail is the crux of your plan for world peace, what if we chose to stand against you?"

Before Lelouch could answer, Jeremiah stepped forward. "Your majesty, communications are now secure." He explained before falling back into place.

Sighing slightly, Lelouch let his façade fall. "Apologies, Kaguya, I didn't want to act too familiar whilst communications were not secure." He explained as he paused briefly. "Now then, who else is listening in on this conversation? In the Black Knights alone, I'm sure Ohgi, Xingke and Todoh are watching, trying to decipher the meaning behind any of my actions."

Grimacing slightly, Kaguya pressed a few buttons before images of the three that Lelouch listed off appeared in the corners of the screen, having now officially joined the conference rather than simply lurking and eavesdropping.

"It's good to see you all again." Lelouch continued, raising his arms in a welcoming fashion. "It feels like it's been too long since we last spoke."

"Lelouch." Kaguya spoke up, "Why bother with the façade? You knew it would most likely be a member of the Black Knights that you'd be speaking with, so what was the point of acting like…"

"Acting like I didn't know you?" He answered, dropping his hands into his lap as he explained. "Put simply, the last thing I need right now, and I imagine that it's also the last thing you need as well, would be for the public to discover that Lelouch vi Britannia and Zero are one and the same. If I had shown to be familiar with you before the communications were secured, there's a chance some noble or someone with a relative amount of influence or power would have been able to hack into this conference and discover my identity."

"If that's the case, then why haven't you moved to take us into custody?" Todoh was the next to speak, his voice as stern as ever. "You know full well that we have your identity and could reveal it at any time we pleased. So why haven't you chosen to do anything about it?"

"Aside from the fact that you can be reasoned with?" Lelouch joked, prompting a small smile from Kallen. "Because the symbol of the Black Knights, Zero, is believed to be dead to the world."

Confusion donned the faces of the members of the Black Knights, all of them seeming to have no idea what the man in front of them meant by that statement.

"Explain what you mean by that, Lelouch." Xingke requested calmly, part of him eager to see where the man he had loyally followed for the past few months was going with this.

"Well, since Zero, the man who leads the Black Knights, is dead, suddenly declaring that the Emperor of Britannia is the same person as this mysterious and enigmatic man will likely lead to a single outcome." He said sombrely, pausing for a moment. "Massive revolts will happen the world over, with Britannia and the Black Knights being the centre of the hatred spewing forth from these people."

"What?!" Ohgi shouted, completely stunned by Lelouch's words, whilst Todoh and Xingke merely grimaced. "But why would people turn on us? Or on you, for that matter?"

Ignoring the irony in Ohgi's words, Lelouch continued. "Because the public may come to the realisation that this entire thing with Zero was a publicity stunt of sorts organised by Britannia in some wild attempt to 'bring Lelouch vi Britannia back into the spotlight.'"

"That's absurd!" Kaguya protested. "Look at how much you accomplished as Zero! There's no way they would think that!"

"No, he's right…" Todoh said solemnly. "Regardless of how much he accomplished in the name of defeating Britannia, the fact is that he is now Emperor of the same country he was working to destroy."

"And even if every step you've taken to dismantle the old Britannia and to replace it with a new Britannia falls in line with your goals as Zero, the public won't see it that way, am I right?" Xingke finished.

"Indeed." Lelouch clarified. "Hence, I have faith that you won't do any acts that will cause problems for the both of us."

Taking in the sight of his former allies grimacing at this realisation, Lelouch mentally patted himself on the back. By explaining this to them, he effectively ensured that no one would be stupid enough to leak his identity as Zero to the public.

"But what about Schneizel?" Ohgi asked hesitantly. "What if he decides to tell the world who you are?"

"Ah, I suspect Schneizel has come to the same conclusion I have, and if he's as good a tactician as I think he is, he might have gone a step further. He will likely have realised that if he informs the public of this, and the riots occur as they are anticipated to, he will either become a target himself as a result of being affiliated with Britannia, despite my exiling of him, or because of this scandal, the public will never trust the Britannian royal family again, effectively making him emperor of an empty shell." Lelouch finished, sitting back in his throne as he allowed the others to process this information.

"I see…" Xingke was the first to speak. "Seems you've thought this through rather thoroughly, Emperor."

"The key to strategy is to always be at least 3 steps ahead of your enemy." He explained smugly.

"Well, then, where does that leave the Black Knights in the eyes of Emperor Lelouch?" Kaguya asked.

"You mean whether I can afford to allow you to continue operating as a private army employed by the UFN?" Lelouch questioned, seeming to see straight through the last surviving member of Kyoto's thought process. "Well, if I decide to declare war on you, not only would it be fairly brief as the entire might of the Britannian military would descend on you, including both the Knight of Zero and the Knight of Orange." He explained, gesturing to the two people in question as he did so before allowing his arms to flop back into place on the armrests of his throne. "However, I see little benefit in doing so. If I declared war on you, then I would effectively be declaring war on peace, a direct contradiction to what I said in my declaration, on top of which the UFN would be rallied against me, resulting in more rebellious groups standing up to defend themselves from Britannia." He paused for a moment, a scowl growing across his face. "Besides, I refuse to simply declare war like my bastard of a father." He spat, contempt coming through very clearly in his voice.

Taking in Lelouch's words, the core members of the Black Knights nodded, understanding the meaning behind his words.

"Well, all that's left to discuss, for now, is how the Black Knights will be treated in the upcoming war against Schneizel." Kaguya said.

"Yes, well…" Lelouch began. "Provided you don't decide to ally yourselves with Schneizel, then you shall be welcomed graciously by the Britannian forces and will act as an additional support group for the rest of the forces."

"Support?" Todoh piped up, surprised. "Not on the front lines?"

"If Schneizel is planning what I expect him to be planning, then definitely not."

"…and what is he planning?" Ohgi asked.

Sighing, Lelouch stood up as he explained. "He's planning, and may well be in the middle of developing, a massive superweapon called Sky Fortress Damocles. Being manufactured by the Toromo Agency, a former ally in weapons development for Britannia, it's likely to be three kilometres in size as it flies above the skies firing F.L.E.I.J.A.s at all those who oppose it."

Gasping in shock, Todoh slammed his fist into the table in front of him. "Those destructive monsters?!"

"How did he get his hands on them?" Ohgi demanded.

Sitting back down on his throne, the Emperor of Britannia continued. "There's a lot of things which even my network of information cannot fully understand. All I know is that materials are being moved to the Toromo Agency and the supply of F.L.E.I.J.A. have gone missing. From there, I'm able to make an educated guess."

"I see…" Xingke replied. "But that still doesn't tell us how you know so much about this accursed machine!"

"Fortunately, I happen to have Rakshata's rival engineer on my side, Earl Lloyd Asplund, who had a helping hand in designing it." He elaborated. "Granted, at the time he was working on it, things like the F.L.E.I.J.A.s were barely even a concept, but his knowledge on the subject is, frankly, disturbing."

"I see…" Todoh replied, deep in thought.

"Thank you for your time, Emperor Lelouch." Kaguya bowed her head. "We will be back in touch once we decide whether to join you, but we will likely have to hold a vote with all key members of the United Federation of Nations."

"I understand." Lelouch replied, bowing his head in response. "I hope for a favourable answer."

"A-ah, before we end this…" Ohgi piped up, looking towards Kallen. "Kallen, are you sure you don't want to come back to us?"

A moment of pain crossed Kallen's face, indicating her conflicted feelings in regards to her former allies. She glanced downwards, struggling to make eye contact with her brother's best friend.

"I'm sorry Ohgi… this is my place now…" Kallen muttered.

"…I see." The Japanese man replied, his voice low.

"Well, if that'll be all, you've all got an important decision to be discussing, so we'll call an end to this meeting." Lelouch spoke somewhat playfully. Jeremiah pulled out his remote once again, switching off the television and ending the conference. As it retracted into the ceiling, Lelouch let loose a hearty sigh.

"Whilst all of this stuff is important, it never gets any less tiring…" He moaned, much to C.C.'s amusement.

Kallen softly turned towards the stage exit of the throne room, her eyes still downcast. "I'm sorry, I'm going to… I'm going to need a moment…" She said quietly, walking off solemnly, an act what was not unnoticed to the Emperor of Britannia.

"Well, your highness, I have duties to return to." Jeremiah announced, bowing. "If you'll excuse me." He said before exiting out of the main entrance of the throne room, leaving C.C. and Lelouch alone in their respective thrones.

"She's feeling at odds with herself, huh?" Lelouch muttered to himself, starting to get lost in thought. "Perhaps I should discuss this with her later today…"

"Never mind that, lover boy." C.C. teased, snapping her Warlock out of his stupor. "Don't you think you have something important to talk to me about?"

Lelouch merely blinked at her in confusion. As far as he could remember, there wasn't anything of absolute importance to be discussed with his confidant so what could she be talking about…?

"Do I need to spell it out for you?" She asked, her smirk never leaving her face as she stood up from her throne and sauntered seductively over to his throne. As she continued to approach, she shifted her legs so that she straddled his, sitting on his lap with her arms around his neck, leaving the boy in absolute confusion. Leaning forward, she placed her mouth next to the violet eyed boy's ear, whispering gently "I'm talking about what you did in your study today."

His face immediately broke out into a blush that would rival that of a tomato's, leaving the boy confused and stuttering. "B-b-but how d-did you know? T-that room is s-s-soundproofed!"

"A lady never tells." C.C. winked, pulling herself closer to the man before her. "I'm just so _hurt_ that you'd make a move on Kallen before me though." She teased.

"Witch." Lelouch replied, looking deep into her amber eyes as he did so.

Chuckling slightly, C.C. didn't move from her spot, their lips just mere inches away from each other. Her teasing expression soon faded away as she inched closer, their lips grazing against one another lightly as the distance closed.

In a sudden surge of passion, Lelouch lunged forwards, entrapping her lips with his own, catching her by surprised for a moment before she melted into the kiss, her hands sliding from their position around his neck in different directions. One found itself lost in Lelouch's locks, grabbing them tightly as she held him closely, whilst the other made its way to the small of Lelouch's back, pulling herself closer to him as their bodies pressed together.

Lelouch's hands began to move upwards from their initial position on the armrests of his throne, one finding a home between her shoulder blades, allowing him to feel both her supple form and her silky soft hair as he held her close. His other hand grabbed hold of her plump bottom, massaging it gently as he got carried away in the moment.

Parting to gasp for air, a strand of saliva formed between the lips of the two figures, both of them lost in each-others eyes as violet met amber. They remained there for several moments, C.C. straddling Lelouch's hips as their forms pressed against each other, gasping for breath before their lips crashed together once again, this time C.C. being the one to lead, her dominant side showing.

Her soft lips massaged themselves against Lelouch's rough ones, both of them getting lost in the ecstasy associated with a passionate kiss such as this. However, they had to part soon after it started, as both of them were still out of breath. Looking at the handsome form of Lelouch in front of her, C.C. decided she'd better stop before things escalate too much in such a public place.

Sliding backwards off his throne, she composed herself as she sorted her hair, which had become slightly frayed in the heat of the moment. Looking down at the man sitting before her, a slightly confused expression on his face, she gently leaned down and kissed him on the cheek before promptly leaving the hall through the stage exit.

Lelouch, having witnessed this action, merely sat there on his throne, thoughts swirling around in his mind as confusion remained present upon his face.

* * *

 **And it's done!**

 **Don't forget to review! Until next time!**


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